To Be A Victor
by captainrogers
Summary: Everyone is laughing at my nickname, but instead of getting angry like some may expect, I just smirk. "Well, I think my competitors should do well to remember something in that arena Caesar." "Oh," he smiles, encouraging me to continue "and what is that?" "A baby shark is still a goddamn shark." Cato/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hello and thank you for choosing to read this story! To be clear, it is a Cato/OC and may be a slowburn, oops? Hahaha! Anyways, let's get some things straight before we dive in (haha, district 4 humor).**

 **First off: I have based a few little things in the District 4 culture off of the Hawaiian culture (I am not a native hawaiian nor do I live there, however I thought it would be a great idea to base the culture off of an existing one.) This means that I am getting a lot of my information from the internet, which brings up my main point: if you have any problems with portrayals or want me to consider adding something in, or just have some tips based off your knowledge (especially if you're a native or have lived there before) then please feel free! I would love to hear suggestions, and if you have any criticisms let me know - just don't be mean omg I'm sensitive ok.**

 **Which brings us to number two: my main OC is a POC - a person of color. This also means that her family is, and honestly anyone else that I add in might or might not be. If you are uncomfortable with this….I guess this is goodbye? Feel free to exit out of your browser and never come back. She and her family are going to be descended from Pacific Islanders/Native Hawaiians who migrated to the mainland of the U.S. at the wrong time apparently because Panem took over and now they're screwed it would seem. Again, if you are part or full Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, I would love to hear about how I can incorporate other aspects of your culture into this story. I want my OC and everyone else in her district to have cultural roots, as this will play a role in their loyalty to her rather than the Capitol. This is not me singling out a specific culture, I just feel like it goes well with the specific district I choose for her to be in.**

 **Third: I'm gonna let you guys know this now, and not keep you worried the entire time about this specific piece of info….I am ABSOLUTELY NOT KILLING FINNICK. That man is staying well and alive, I'll kill LITERALLY anyone else. Go ahead, give me ideas, I'm open, just leave Finnick alone.**

 **Fourth: a couple things - along with Finnick being alive - will be changed….yeah sorry don't complain about that, I just feel like it allows me to focus solely on my character more, as well as add a level of surprise and mystery to the story, I won't tell you** _ **anymore**_ **spoilers about what I am going to do, so you'll have to read to find out.**

 **Numero Five: There may be adult content and strong language in this story, I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, this is your warning. There won't be too strong of adult content and I will put a warning at the beginning of the chapter for all of you for that, however I won't for cursing because that's pointless, there probably will be at least a curse word in each chapter. I have a potty mouth, sue me. But I'll try to keep it toned down. Let's be real though, it's the Hunger Games, who wouldn't be cursing ridiculous amounts with everyone trying to kill them?**

 **That is all I think, if anything comes up, hey I'll let you know! Onto the story! Enjoy!**

 _I have a dream_

 _I hope it will come true_

 _That you're here with me_

 _And I am here with you_

 _I wish that the earth, sea, and the sky up above_

 _Will send me someone to lava_

Giggles immerse the room as the two toddlers cuddled into each side of me beg me to sing their favorite song again.

"Sweetheart," my mother's voice rings from outside of my room, "Have you seen the twins, they're not in their-" She breathes a sigh of relief when she enters my room to see Luana and Koa in my bed with me.

"They slept in here last night, nightmares I guess." Last night the two of them came into my room rambling about monsters under their beds and outside their window, threatening to steal them away in the dead of night. Even though I knew they were full of it I let them stay with me, because I knew the truth. Today was reaping day, my last one before I was free from the Capitol's games; Luana and Koa knew this, and they were afraid that last night might be one of the last moments they would be able to spend with me.

"Akela's shoes are at the door, did he-" my mom starts to say before a groan from on the floor stops her.

"On the floor." I laugh. Akela normally stayed at Finnick Odair's house in the Victor's Village, but last night he snuck into the house and stayed with the twins and I; unfortunately, he had to sleep on the floor, as my bed was not big enough to accommodate one girl, two small children, _and_ him.

"Hello sweetheart." Our mother smiled and lightly ruffled his hair as he sat up. "I made some breakfast, it's not a lot, but I was able to whip something up. Everyone to the kitchen, let's go." Akela was up and running down the hallway before my mother could finish the word 'breakfast.' The twins followed my mother, giggling all the way, and for a moment I was jealous of them. I wish I could be like them, I normally was, but not today. Not today.

One day Luana and Koa were going to have to go through this too. One day they would wake up terrified at the fact that it could be their last few days alive. One day they would walk to the Justice Hall where the reapings are held, and be faced with the horrifying idea that if both of them were chosen, they would either have to fight each other or watch their own sibling, their own twin - the very own person they shared a womb with - die.

I would know. Akela and I are only two years apart, we experienced the same fear every reaping we were both a part of. Fortunately for us, we were never both picked, and now that Akela is 21 he no longer has any chances of being thrown in an arena only to have to kill a bunch of other kids or die trying.

 _One more year._ I tell myself. I turned 19 before the next reaping, all I had to do was make it one more time. How mad was it that one moment, only a few split seconds could determine whether your life, something that might've been meant to last decades more, was going to be cut short - and all because _a government_ decided to take out its anger over a justifiable rebellion on kids who had nothing to do with it in the first place.

Eventually I made my way to the kitchen where all of my sibling were sat around the table, along with my mother and, unsurprisingly, Annie Cresta. Annie was another victor, and someone I knew through my brother, who had went to school and become good friends with her before she had been reaped. My brother was devastated as he watched one of his best friends walk up the stage, and then later fight for her life in the arena. She was how he had met Finnick. At first, Finnick wasn't the biggest fan of Annie having another male friend, which was how we all found out that Finn was crushing on the girl; but when he found out that my brother was more into him than Annie, he was more than accepting of their friendship. I had studied physical and mental illnesses from the start of a very young age, albeit, I had only ever really studied them in animals, however it helped a lot with being around Annie after the games. She wasn't mad per say, she was undergoing severe trauma, a normal response to something she had gone through, she was just expressing it in a way that was different from previous and other victors. I can't say I wouldn't be the same way if I were to see what she had seen, lived through what she had lived through; how would I live with myself afterwards? What would make me so much better than everyone else in that arena that would justify me winning over them?

"When you come back this afternoon I need you're help at the sanctuary, Akoni only ever works well with you it seems, and he hasn't been swimming enough lately for us to send him back." In a way, I liked that my mom was talking to me like I would definitely be coming home later that day, it made me feel safer, like I was definitely going to survive the reaping.

"Ok, no problem. Annie, you're welcome to come if you'd like." My parents started working at the animal sanctuary on the south side of District 4 when they were young, that's how they had actually met and fallen in love. My dad died shortly after the twins were born, none of us know how, and Akela and I refuse to ask mom, bringing it up only makes her upset, and last time we asked her she broke down crying while only being able to mumble the words 'I don't understand' over and over again. While they didn't own the sanctuary - that would be the Capitol that officially does - they were basically the main bosses there; however when dad died, mom took over all the responsibility.

The reason there was an animal sanctuary in District 4 was because the Capitol liked to house animals to either study - probably in order to get ideas for mutations for the games - or to sell to people who liked to say they owned exotic sea animals or, even worse, eat them, or the Capitol will sometimes use them to put on shows and will allow the people to pay to swim with them or touch them or even just catch a glimpse of them. It's all about entertainment and money for President Snow. We usually try and rehabilitate animals that we catch that are injured from our boats or other animal attacks and etcetera and then send them back into the ocean, but unfortunately that isn't always the case and the Capitol gets ahold of them before we can send them back or hide them away. Sometimes the animals living in the Capitol get hurt and they're sent to District 4 in order to be "fixed" and then shipped off once again to the Capitol. It's sickening to all of us here in 4; growing up on the ocean and on boats puts everything into perspective I guess, we share our home - the ocean - with these animals, to see them being used for entertainment, or to see them being slaughtered without any regard...it's a constant reminder that we as a district share more in common with the animals than just a habitat.

Akoni is a dolphin that was being rehabilitated, he had been there 4 months and didn't seem to be making much progress. It's seen a lot with animals that the Capitol sends to us; Akoni was getting sick and wasn't getting better, and now it seemed like he was becoming depressed.

 _Maybe he subconsciously knew my reaping day was coming up and realized his best friend might be leaving him and never coming back._

 _Too morbid, think better thoughts._

 _My name is not going to be called. I am going to come home today, I am going to see Akoni later this afternoon, I am going to celebrate never seeing an arena up close, I am going to have my mother tuck me into bed, and I am going to live out the rest of my life in District 4 and die peacefully a long_ long _time from now_.

Breakfast ends way too early and before I know it, I'm washed off and changed into the same outfit I wore to last years reaping. My mother and father - when he was still alive- never let any of us take out any tesserae, only ever allowing us to pick up little jobs here and there for extra money; honestly, I'm thankful looking back, it makes me feel better about the reaping every year, knowing that my name isn't in there any more times than it needs to be.

As we reach the center of the district, Luana and Koa attack me first, kissing me all over my face and squeezing the air out of me with their endless hugs. It takes a while for my mother to get them to let me go so that I can make my way to the Justice Building. She brushes my hair behind my ears and kisses both of my cheeks. "I love you." She whispers. Next is Akela, he's standing there trying to smile as best he can, even though I knew he was probably just as scared as I was. "I'll see you later." He tells me and kisses my forehead, lingering for a couple of seconds before finally letting me go.

"Love you guys." I try to hold back the tears filling my eyes.

"Love you too." Akela and my mom wave at me.

The twins look like they're about to cry too, which is why I know I have to be strong. "Lava you!"

I laugh through the pain. "Lava you too kiddos!" And with that I turn and walk to my possible death.

 _Too morbid, too morbid._

I walk into the group of 18 year old girls after going through regular procedure. I look around to see if I can see my family standing far off, and I can just make out Akela's dark head of hair standing taller amongst neighbors and strangers.

My attention is drawn to the stage in front of all of us where Effie Trinket stands in all her Capitol gettup glory. She used to be the escort for District 12 until she was moved, probably requesting a somewhat wealthier and less dreary district. "Welcome, welcome…"

I zone out after that, waiting until the same video they put on every year that talks about the past rebellion and reasoning for the games is turned on. I watch, but I don't really listen. Not until Effie says the words the make my heart stop every year.

"Now it's time, for the moment we've all been waiting for, to see who will bring honor to District 4 by becoming this year's tributes." She smiles as all of our hearts simultaneously drop. "Let's change it up this year, shall we? Boys first!" Her hand reaches into the bowl on her right side, prolonging her search for what she, I'm guessing, deems the perfect slip of paper to pull. She pulls one out eventually and waddles over to the microphone before opening the slip and reading the name of the unlucky boy. "Kai Herring."

I know him. He's older, 17 years old, and my heart breaks when I hear his mother gasp and his little sister start crying from the crowds. He doesn't seem to act phased as he makes his way up the stairs and onto the stage. His eyes are void of any emotion, but I notice where his gaze is at, right on his mom and sister.

"Very nice," Effie's voice falters a little, and I can almost make out a break in her Capitol-like demeanor. But she quickly moves onto the other side of the stage, where the bowl with all of the girl names sits. "Moving on to the girls!"

She does the same thing as she did with the boys, taking her time, and prolonging our stress.

I can feel my heart squeezing as she pulls out a slip and makes her way back to center stage.

Everyone is completely silent, until Effie finally announces the name.

And it's not me.

"Lilinoe Mako."

" _No!_ " There's a scream from the crowds, a dark skinned man comes bounding through only to be stopped by Peacekeepers.

 _I know that name_. I think. My brain works to think of how, and it hits me all at once when I see a small girl walk out of the 12 year old group. _Oh god, Lili._

Her parents were fishermen, and really good ones at that. They owned a couple of boats, and were actually pretty well off in terms of money. Earlier this year, on a trip gone wrong, Lilinoe's mother and father were caught in a bad storm that demolished the boat. Search parties were sent out the next morning when the storm finally calmed, I was a part of them. They found her father washed up on a small sandbar, but they never found her mother.

 _The sea gives, but it also takes._ That's what he said at her funeral. He had lost his wife, and now he was losing his daughter...all in less than a year.

" _Please!_ She's all I have left! _Please_ , don't take my daughter! Don't take her too! Someone, _please_!"

I had no idea that my feet were moving until I was standing in the middle of the opening, where everyone could see me.

"I volunteer!"

"Kalani!" Out of all the people I would expect to scream my name, I was surprised to see it was Finnick. Finnick, who was usually calm and collected; Finnick, who I went to when I was having trouble because I knew he'd know what to do; Finnick, who never showed any emotion other than amusement and confidence; Finnick, who now just looked lost and confused.

"Dad!" I watch Lilinoe run to her dad behind me and hug him with all the strength she possessed in her little body. And I knew I wouldn't regret what I had done.

I turned back to the stage and stared at Finnick as I walked up the stairs. When I get to the top and freeze because standing there is, "Annie." I whisper. I completely forgot she'd been sitting off to the side. She runs into my arms only to be ripped off by Finnick seconds later, who is trying to calm her down and most likely keep her from having a panic attack in front of everyone.

I stand next to Kai, and instead of shaking hands I pull him into a warm hug which he returns. We pull apart and look out into the sea of other kids.

"And what is your name, darling?" I'm asked by our escort.

"Kalani Maverick." I speak into the microphone she shoves in my face.

Effie goes to speak again but is interrupted.

"Mahalo!" A broken voice yells. And I know it's the same voice of Lilinoe's father. "Mahalo!" He says again, stronger this time. I look over at him. His body is still and he is no longer speaking, but I can see it in his eyes, the gratitude, the apology, the love. I may be giving away my life, put I was allowing his daughter to keep her's. Like the sea, I can give, give his daughter another year - and maybe even her entire life - with him, but there can be no give without a take.

"Mahalo." He says again.

And before I know it there a more voices saying the word, and then yelling it, and then screaming it.

The voices eventually die down, and the Peacekeepers begin to usher Kai and me away from the stage and into the actual Justice Building.

I don't turn around, I don't want to look at anyone, because I know if I do I'll probably bust into tears. But then I hear it, a small voice, a young girl, the one I was keeping alive by sacrificing myself. "Aloha, Kalani!" I can't help but turn around and stare directly into her dark brown eyes. Aloha is a word taken seriously in our district, something that shows love and compassion, it's a strong word, and we only use it when we really mean it. " _Aloha_." I mouth to her, and finally turn away for good.

 **Ahhhh! Do you hate me? Was it good? Was the culture depicted correctly or should I fix something, or maybe just delete myself off the internet? Leave a review, let me know, I would be happy to get feedback! Also, if you feel a review might not get you anywhere or is a little to public, you can always PM me, that's totally cool and we can speak (or type I guess) there! I will try and get another chapter up as soon as possible, until then…**

 **xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok so as I've made it a point in the past, I would like to reiterate that I do not officially know the Hawaiian language and so anything and everything that is written in the language throughout this fanfic comes from google and google translate, so if it's a little butchered I am so sorry! Anyone who does speak the language and can help with translations is totally welcome to! Remember to leave a review! Enjoy!**

My body may not have been moving in the slightest, but my mind was running at a mile a minute. I sat in a small room inside of the Justice Building waiting for my family to walk through the door to say goodbye. _Because soon I might be dead._

I pray they don't have to watch me die a painful death; who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and die of starvation or dehydration instead of being brutally murdered.

My thoughts came to a screeching halt as the door to the room was flung open and Luana and Koa crashed into my lower body. I could feel them shaking and hear them crying and it only made me feel worse about the situation I had put them in. But how was I supposed to let a little girl die? Who else would have volunteered for her?

"Are you insane?" Akela is the first one to speak. "What were you thinking?"

"She would've died-" I started.

"And now, so could you!" He screamed. I waited for him to calm down, but it never happened, instead he grew hysterical. "You have to win these games, you have to come back. You can do this, you know how to spear fish and use a harpoon, you're a strong swimmer, Finnick can help you with sponsors, you're fast and you're stronger than you think. You're smarter than them, you are." I'm grateful that he has so much hope for me, because I don't.

"You'll be okay Kalani." Koa whimpers. "You'll come back. You gotta come back."

"I'm gonna try." I tell him honestly.

One more time I hug the twins before looking at my mother. She's taking this better than I thought she would. Instead of crying, she looks me dead in the eyes and says, "You're going to win. And you're going to come home."

She, like Akela, acts like there is no other option, and I want to believe them, but there's too much hopeless optimism in that - this I know for sure. Chances are, I make it to maybe the final ten. Chances are, I end up facing off with a tribute way bigger than me and end up being taken down easily, or I starve, or I get eaten by a mutt, or literally anything else kills me. Chances are, I never come home and I never get to see my family or the ocean ever again.

"I'll try, mama."

"No." I'm startled by her tone. "You will." And I start to see them, the tears in her eyes are beginning to form.

"Ok." Is all I can say to her. "I love you guys."

We all stay with each other for a couple of more seconds before the Peacekeepers come in and rip us from one anothers' arms. Luana is screaming to let me go home, Koa isn't doing any better, Akela and my mother are trying their best to soothe them, and that's all I see before the doors close and separate me from my family for what could be forever.

"I've already got a list of sponsors that I know I can get to support you and send you whatever you're going to need in the arena. You've worked with animals which may come in handy with knowing how to interact, avoid, or even kill or maim some of the mutts they might release in the arena. You can catch fish, that could help you out with food because chances are there's gonna be a water source somewhere, they hate it when tributes die of dehydration, not gory enough for them. I've taught you some hand to hand, just in case you get into it with another tribute, but we'll brush up on that during our personal training time."

"Finn." I try to interrupt him, but he's rambling now, and it seems like he's only paying attention to what he's saying and nobody else.

"You're good with with spears and tridents, harpoons too, that'll be really good to show off to the gamemakers when you go for your individual evaluation. They've never put a harpoon into the games, that could be a huge new feat they'd like to add, maybe I can talk to some of the gamemakers, plant a seed in their minds. They're better for bigger targets."

"Finnick."

"Or maybe I can get you a nice trident, no one has used one since my games, so it's been awhile, I could make it like you're my protege, that would be perfect! You're beautiful, so we can work up a really good angle on you for the interview, sweet but sexy, classy but sassy, they'll eat it up those ignorant twats."

"Finnick!"

"What?" He finally looks at me and stops talking.

"Finn, chill. You've gotta work with Kai too, remember? I'm gonna try to win Finnick, I promise. But I need you to be calm so that you can help me."

"No, I already called dibs on you, Mags is gonna work with Kai." He takes a couple of deep breaths. "I have something for you, from Annie." He pulls out a necklace made with thin black rope. It held a shark tooth on it. I had seen the necklace before, it was Finnick's from his games. He had given it to Annie before her games, who had kept it and never taken it off until now.

"Your necklace." I whisper. "Thanks Finn. Tell Annie I said thank you..when you see her."

"You can tell her that yourself after you win and come home."

We stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Finnick grabbed both of my hands and brought me to sit next to him, where we hugged each other for what seemed like hours. Everyone seemed to have so much hope held inside of them, believing that I could truly make it out. I needed to start believing in myself like they believed in me if I hoped to stay alive. There were two things I knew for sure: I really would try my hardest to win if it meant getting back to the people I loved; however, if it came down to it...I doubt I could take another person's life and live with myself.

We got to the Capitol a couple of hours later and by then Finnick was able to convince me that I actually had a chance at winning these games. He had given me a few tips, starting with the most important one: the game isn't only played in the arena, to succeed - to survive - I needed to understand that the game started _now_. Step number one in our master plan: win over the hearts of as many people in the Capitol as I could.

I wasn't terrible at making friends, so I figured that part wouldn't be too hard, I would be charismatic, sweet, charming...Finnick-like?

Finnick ran a couple of rules by me: don't interact with any of the other tributes just yet, wait until training for that; smile and wave, smile and wave; no crying, act like this is one of the greatest experiences of my life; don't be afraid to be a little flirty, they "eat that shit up" - Finnick's words, not mine. With all these rules being thrown at me, I found it only fair to have at least one of my own.

"I'm absolutely not dressing up as a fish." I refused to lose both my dignity as well as my life here in the Capitol. "I'm fine with whatever you approve for me Finnick, just please don't have me dress up like shark bait."

Finnick laughed at that. "Don't worry darling, last year's designer was fired, but I'll run it by Cinna, Four's new designer, just so he knows how high maintenance you are."

"I hate you."

"You adore me." He scoffs. His expression changes from one of amusement to disdain in a matter of milliseconds as his eyes move from my own to past me. This causes me to turn around to see whatever was making him react in such a way.

"Wow." Is all that I can say when I see it. The Capitol. It really is a sight to see. Nothing like home, but it's beautiful.

Soon enough we begin to come across mobs of people, all dressed in very.. _.flamboyant_ outfits. The train comes to a stop and Effie squeals in excitement at being back home where she so obviously belonged. She's the first one off of the train. And then Finnick. And then me. I hold onto Finn's arm for support, and not the physical kind.

"Smile and wave dollface, I'm right here with you." His whispering calms me down.

 _He's right, I can do this._

I look up into my mentor and, as of that moment, best friend's eyes. He smiles at me and kisses my forehead. The Capitol people go wild. My gaze is torn from the pair of safe ocean blue eyes and into the large crowd of eccentric outfits. I put on my best Finnick Odair face and give them a dazzling smile. The hand I'm not using to grasp onto Finnick is assisting me in blowing and catching kisses, as well as sending little joyous waves to everyone I can. Unsurprisingly, Finnick is absolutely right, they _love_ it, the love me.

It doesn't come soon enough, but eventually we make it into the building ahead of us. The doors close, and once again it's just Finnick and I…and Effie...and Kai and Mags.

 _How have I not noticed them this entire time?_

I'm ushered away almost immediately, and I almost freak out until Finn explains that they're just taking me to be waxed, shaved, and cleaned up. I barely flinch while they do this. It's pretty common to remove hair from your body in District Four, it takes off dead skin cells and heightens the feeling of the water while swimming, which in turn makes it feel like you're moving faster in the water. The glam crew, as I have officially deemed them, were quite happy with how little I squirmed or complained. After my body and hair were cleaned with some nice smelling soaps I was given a fluffy jacket like thing that I was told was called a 'robe' and walked to another room where I sat alone for a couple of minutes before someone else entered. It was a taller man with a dark complexion; he wasn't dressed like everyone else in the Capitol, wearing a simple black jacket and pants, and just a hint of gold glitter lining his eyes.

"My name is Cinna." He told me. "And I am immensely honored to meet you."

This made me smile and blush just a bit. "Thank you...I mean, _mahalo_."

Cinna smiles and it seems like it's his turn to blush. "Seriously, what you did for that little girl, you're a true inspiration, the people believe you to be a saviour, an angel of some sort, a-"

"Goddess." Another voice interrupts the designer. It's Finnick, and I'm thankful he's finally with me again.

"Exactly. And tonight, that's what I plan on making you into." Cinna has me stand on a pedestal in just my underwear and a wrap around my breasts. "How do you feel about a lack of clothing? Not that I'll have you out there naked or anything, but I was thinking of playing with some sheer fabric, see through and whatnot."

I shrugged. "I'm fine with it. No one from our District really has a problem with nudity or any sort of lack of clothing. It's too hot to wear so much all the time, we're usually in bathing suits and we rarely wear shoes. And we're always in and out of the water so there's no real point in excessive clothing."

"Yeah, and the tan lines suck." Finnick throws in. I giggle at that comment, remembering a specific time when he had gotten a bad tan from wearing a shirt while out on the water. "I know why you're laughing you little brat, don't make me bring up any embarrassing stories about you. Trust me Cinna, there are plenty."

Cinna seems amused by mine and Finnick's bickering. "Alright, let's get down to business. I was thinking over a couple different ideas for goddesses, and originally I was going to go with a sort of minor sea goddess, or maybe even a kind of siren feel. But then I was reading up on it, and everything was put into perspective: Aphrodite."

"The goddess of love?" I smiled.

"And beauty. Born from the sea, Aphrodite was the most beautiful of all the goddesses, mortals worshipped the very ground she was said to have walked upon. And those who opposed her found themselves faced with her wrath, underestimating just how powerful and strong she really was."

"It's perfect!" Finnick screamed. Cinna and I jumped a little, forgetting for a few moments that he was also in the room. "Sorry, sorry...it's perfect." My mentor said in a softer voice this time.

"He's right." I tell Cinna. "It's like you knew exactly what kind of angle were gonna play."

"What can I say, great minds think alike."

"Yeah, and I called him like three hours ago and told him the plan." Finnick rolled his eyes.

"Why can't you just let me have this?" Cinna rolled his eyes, to which the victor only smiled and gave a playful wink.

For the next two hours the glam crew worked on my hair and makeup. I didn't have blonde hair like Aphrodite was said to have had, so they put something in my hair that apparently had the ability to make my hair lighter. I told them I didn't want to change my hair color completely, so they only took pieces and made them a sort of gold color that blended with the rest of my brunette colored hair. My hair was left down and wavy for the most part, two pieces of hair from both sides of my head were twisted and weaved into one fishtail braid in the back. My makeup surprisingly didn't take as long, Cinna wanted a more natural beauty look so my face was covered with some liquid that matched my skin tone, some stuff was put on my eyelashes to make them look longer, and they put some stuff on my lips to give them a pinkish red coloring. The last hour was spent putting on my outfit and perfecting some minor details.

The dress was white and sheer, almost giving the illusion of mist, as if one wrong turn would give the entire world a view of what was underneath the fabric. There was a slit up the entire right side of my leg and a slim gold wrap was placed around my waist area. The top part of the dress criss crosses over my breasts and wraps around my neck, leaving almost my whole back on show along with part of my stomach ending just before the gold wrap. I was given a piece of material that was attached from one wrist to the other by gold bands and looked exactly like-

"Water."

"Not real obviously, but it gives off the illusion of that element, yes. It even moves exactly as water would. Luckily, it's not actually wet or else it would ruin your dress." Cinna explains. He places a couple of more thin golden bands on my upper left arm, and even gives me one that looked like an eel wrapping around my entire upper right arm. Once all of my accessories are placed on me, Cinna gives the green light to start leading me to where the chariots are being held. "The eel isn't exactly Aphrodite-like, but I figured it would remind you somewhat of the ocean, and of your home." And he's right, I love it.

Finnick grabs a hold of my hand as we all walk, slowing me down to a brief stop behind the group. He doesn't say anything, just places his hands behind my neck and then fixes whatever he put around my neck. The sharktooth necklace. My glam crew had me take it off so they could wash me down. We both exchange sad looks. Finn places his hands on my cheeks and then his forehead onto my own before closing his eyes. "Ma ke aloha, ua loa'a ikaika." His words comfort me. It was something my mother always said, especially after dad died when she felt those words were needed most in our time of loss. _Through love we find strength_. It's not what it means exactly, but that's the gist of it. I repeat the words back to him, my voice breaking a little. "You're gonna make it out of there Kalani. I'm gonna make sure of it."

"You promise?" It was a lot to ask of him, but in that moment all I wanted was the safe feeling only those words could bring me.

"I promise." We finally pull away from each other. "Let's go get this over with so you can rest up before tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow?" I ask.

"The start of training." He reminds me and I groan. "Come on you dork. You look gorgeous by the way."

"I know."

This makes him laugh. "And so humble. Sometimes I lie awake at night and think to myself, _there's no way we're not related_."

Cinna and the glam crew are waiting for us a few yards ahead. They must've realised that Finn and I had stopped but decided to give us some time to talk. I'm about to walk out the doors blocking us all from the chariots and fellow tributes but Cinna stops me. "No, no, no. Your shoes, give me them."

"You want me to walk out there without shoes?" I ask, not really sure I'd heard him correctly. "I mean, I don't mind, but why?"

"When I envision you out there in this outfit, I don't picture you with shoes."

I shrug. "You're the fashionista." Cinna laughs at my comment and catches my shoes when I toss them to him. "Finn, carry me to the chariot."

"Bugger off." He rolls his eyes at me.

"I will fight you right here, don't you dare make me embarrass you in front of all these people. Pick me up!"

"You're as intimidating as a baby shark."

"Finnick!" I narrow my eyes and the victor and I somehow end up in a stare down that I, of course, end up winning.

"God, fine." He leans down and picks me up bridal style. I smirk, feeling smug at the fact that I had won the argument. My momentary happiness is not long lived. As soon as we walk into the hall that held the chariots I felt all of the hope I once had leave my body. My arms subconsciously wrap tighter around Finnick's neck. He looks down at me. "Come on baby shark, remember that they're only kids, and they're just as scared as you are." Thanks to Finn I make it to District Four's chariot without fainting, where he then sets me down. I catch a glimpse of a couple other tributes and a bunch of well known victors. My eyes drift over to District 11 first, where a young girl and bulky _man_ stand shoulder to….uhh head. She looks adorable and he looks intimidating.

"He sure doesn't look scared." I point him out to Finnick.

His raise eyebrows. "Yeah he doesn't look much of anything." We continue to watch the boy as their mentor seems to make a joke to which the young girl busts out laughing and the boy doesn't bat an eyelash. "God, does he even _have_ emotions?"

We stop gaping at the boy finally and look at each other once again. "I'm gonna go say hello to a friend, I wanna introduce you to her, give me a couple seconds, stay right here." Finnick disappears and I'm left alone. Luckily, Cinna comes to touch up little areas of my outfit, making sure it was 'absolutely perfect.' He's rambling about sparkles and fabric and messing with my hair when I notice a slight change in his demeanor, he doesn't move or talk as fast as before. I don't have to wonder why for long, as he gives me an answer without me having to ask the question. "You have a shadow." His gaze is right over my shoulder.

I look over to see the little girl from District 11. She shies away a little, but smiles and sends me a brief wave nonetheless. All I can see in her is Lilinoe, they have the exact same eyes. It feels like someone is reaching into my ribcage and squeezing my heart. I was able to save Lilinoe from the same fate that would befall this poor girl. No one was able...no one choose to save her. And it's that simple fact that rips me apart the most, the fact that we _let_ this continue on, we _allow_ the government to continue to slaughter children and rip apart families and destroy the minds of those _lucky enough_ to make it out of the arena; as if it should even be considered lucky to be alive after killing other kids against your will, watching district partners, people from back home, die, living weeks in fear that someone or something could potentially end your life within seconds. There are endless reasons to consider the victors of these games anything but lucky. And yet here I stand, praying I would make it out and become one of them if it meant keeping my life. But the same questions remained in the back of my mind: could I actually kill someone in cold blood?

I quickly shake off the depressing thoughts inside my head and put on an award winning smile. If I could at least make her feel somewhat safe, like Finnick was able to make me feel while I was here, then maybe she would have some hope for winning the games too; after all, tributes like her don't make it into the career pack obviously, they rarely make it into any alliance, and they usually die within the first few days. If there was anything we all needed at the moment, it was hope, and I was sure that I could give that to her.

I halt Cinna's hands and walk toward the District 11 chariot with a little pep in my step. My gaze is so focused on the little girl that I don't notice the plethora of stares I'm getting as I walk past everyone in the vicinity. My feet only stop moving when I'm right in front of her. "Hello!" I'm smiling from ear to ear, which makes her smile too. "I'm Kalani. I couldn't help but notice how beautiful you look, I just wanted to come and tell you how much I love your outfit. You look absolutely gorgeous."

A blush forms on her cheeks. "Not as beautiful as you, everyone can't stop staring." Her voice is small and causes my heart to hurt even more. How could the Capitol do something like this to someone like her? "My name is Rue." She pauses and averts her eyes, "I love the thing on your arm," she points to the eel band. "What is it?"

"It's called an eel. A lot of people think they're like snakes because of how they look, but they're actually a type of fish. They don't look like much, but they're dangerous little creatures of the sea." I smile again and wink at her, hoping she understood my underlying metaphor. "I have to get back to my chariot before Finnick realizes I'm missing, I just wanted to meet you before the night ended. Maybe we can hang out during training." Her eyes become wide and she can't seem to stop shaking her head up and down. I giggle. "Goodbye, Rue! It was wonderful to meet you!" I shout as I walk back to the District Four chariot. If I hadn't noticed all eyes on me before, I most definitely did now.

"Kalani." Finnick's voice tore my attention away from everyone else. "There's someone I want you to meet." When I looked up I saw the last person I would assume Finnick would associate himself with. "Kalani, meet Johanna Mason."

She gives me her signature smirk. "Sup, _baby_ _shark_."


	3. Chapter 3

**Jumping right into the story this time, hope you all like this chapter! Especially because CATO! Yep, this is it you guys, the chapter where ya girl Kalani is meeting her man, or should we say her future man. Now some of you may say that Cato seems a little OOC in this chapter, but remember that he hasn't actually been fully introduced yet. He's not stupid, and I refuse to portray him as stupid; he knows how to work a crowd and he knows when to take an opportunity should one arise in order to put focus onto him. Don't worry, he's still his old assholey self, just give it another chapter, you know, when he actually speaks and has lines. I promise he won't disappoint. Review and enjoy!**

I'd only ever seen Johanna Mason on tv when she had won the 71st hunger games. She looked so sweet and innocent, and when it came down to the last few tributes she proved herself to be a forced to be reckoned with. Johanna was deadly; even just now standing in front of her while in absolutely no danger, I could practically feel the wild aura that surrounded her.

"Hi." That's all that I could bring myself to say to the woman.

"Finnick tells me we've got a winner on our hands, by the looks of it you've got just about everyone in this room either wanting to be you or at the very least be with you. The Capitol seems _enchanted_ by your little show with Finnick earlier, you keep this up and you'll have all the sponsors you need." She smirked. "But sponsors don't always make a winner. I would know, I barely had any, and yet here I am."

I had no idea what to say to that. Luckily, I didn't need to say anything because Finnick decided to butt in. "Chill Mason, she's like a mini me, there's no way she's not coming out of that arena alive."

"Ok, we'll see I guess. I'll be looking out, not like my kids are winning this year anyways." She shrugged. I winced at her comment. How could she just have so little hope in the two children she was supposed to be helping. _Maybe it hurt less to leave all hope behind. Maybe it was her way of not getting hurt_. Ok then Johanna Mason, you're on, I'm gonna give you someone to root for.

"Oh god, here comes tall, dark, and terrifying." Johanna rolls her eyes. And then another voice comes from behind me. "Finnick Odair. Johanna Mason. Good to see the two of you again."

I don't have to turn around to know who that is. "Brutus, didn't see you over there, what with the light shining off your bald head and directly into my eyes." Finnick never did know how to keep his mouth shut. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but chuckle, and Johanna didn't even bother holding her own laugh back.

"Seriously, do you wax that thing before you show face, or is it just naturally that shiny?" Now Johanna and Finnick were going at it, insulting the older victor back and forth.

"Wait, tilt your head down for a second, I think I have something in my teeth."

"Hey when you're in front of the mirror and you lean down just a bit, does it look like one of those infinity mirror illusions?"

"Alright!" Brutus had finally grown overly irritated at the other two victors jokes. "Yeah, I'm bald, and you guys are just so funny. Not gonna be laughing when both your tributes end up dead in that arena and one of my own comes out." Wow, he really knew how to kill a mood. I narrowed my eyes at him. "What are you looking at kid?" He called me out.

I almost back down. Almost. "I was seeing if I could really see my reflection in your head, sorry." Finnick and Johanna bust into little giggles next to me. If looks could kill, I would be dead; Brutus did not look happy with that comment. Luckily, I was saved by a message over the announcers telling the tributes to get ready to board their chariots, as the tribute parade was to commence in less than five minutes.

"Save it for the games baby shark." Johanna says to me lowly, but not low enough because the District Two victor laughs at the nick name. "Baby shark, cute." He says before walking away.

"That's right, walk away egghead!" Finnick shouts, catching the attention of a couple other people around us.

"Try not to blind anyone, there are a lot of lights around here, one wrong angle and we could have a huge accident on our hands!" Johanna and Finnick fist bump each other. It's kind of nice to see their interactions with each other, it reminds me a lot of my brother and I. "I don't completely hate you." Johanna quirks one of her eyebrows. "That's new. Good luck out there."

Johanna walks away as Finnick helps me into the chariot. "You're gonna do great out there honey, just be yourself. Pretend I'm up there with you, like we're getting out of that train together again. It's only a couple of minutes long, and then it'll be over."

"It'll never be over." I whisper. Finnick hears me, I know he does, but he doesn't say anything, just kisses my hand and repeats what he said before. "See you on the other side."

Kai is at my side suddenly, looking like the spitting image of the god Poseidon. He throws me a soft smile and looks straight ahead as we begin moving. My stomach is churning so bad that I have to hold back the puke that's threatened to make it's way up my throat and out of my body. That wouldn't be the best message to send to sponsors, one that says I'm vulnerable and scared and probably not worth spending your money on. So instead I pull out my best Finnick Odair smile once again, and the more the chariot moves, the more confident I feel.

Lights blind me temporarily as the chariot leaves the confines of the great hall we were once in and out into a grand stadium filled with screaming people. I ignored my heart telling me that these people couldn't care less about whether or not I died in that arena, as long as it made for a good show, and instead I listened to my head telling me that it didn't really matter what I felt right now, because I needed these people to support me, to like me, or else I'd go in with worse chances than I had before. Medication, food, extra weapons, matches, water - those kinds of things came from sponsors, and it could mean the difference between life and death in the games. I would play this strategically; if I could make sure that I was a fan favorite, I might be able to play all of my cards right. I could get in with a good alliance, but that would mean I may be forced to kill people, something I still didn't know if I could stomach. My only other option was to work by myself to stay alive, which was where being a fan favorite came in handy, as long as I made myself seem interesting and worth it, I could live off sponsor gifts and anything else I could hunt or find. Still, that little voice in the back of my head reminded me of what that meant: what about Rue and Kai? Then again, what about any of these kids? _What about me?_

I became hyperaware of the crowd around me. A bunch of people were trying to grab my attention, so I gave it to them, which made them scream louder. Flowers were thrown at us, mostly roses, but there was one that I noticed on the floor of the chariot, a hibiscus, commonly seen in my district. I smiled and picked it up before placing it in my hair right above my ear. I wasn't sure who exactly threw the flower, but I blew a kiss in the general direction I was sure it had come from. The people went nuts.

Finally the chariot stopped. I noticed a lot of the attention was on the district four chariot, in fact none of the other districts seemed to get anything thrown at them like we did. Looking down at the rest of the flowers in our chariot, an idea popped into my head. President Snow began his usual speech. While he spoke I leaned down and picked up a couple of different colored flowers before holding up a part of my dress as I climbed down off the chariot. I made my way to a couple of different districts' chariots and began to hand each of the tributes flowers. I knew exactly what I was doing; Aphrodite was supposed to be an embodiment of love and beauty (albeit she was also said to be extremely vain and kind of bratty, but that aside she was still enchanting) so I would make sure to emphasize those qualities in myself. I was also paying no mind to Snow, which I am sure would piss him off. What more could he do to me though? I was already fighting for my life these next few weeks.

Apparently, the capitol people loved it because it made the crowd grow louder, in fact it was now too loud to hear Snow speaking. I began at District 5 first since they were right next to us. Some of the tributes looked at me with confused expressions, while others gave little smiles and some even thanked me. My feet finally carried me to Rue's chariot, where she put on the biggest smile, going as far as to get out of her own chariot, hug me, and accept the flower. The tribute she was sharing the chariot with didn't smile, but he took the flower and gave a thankful nod while helping Rue back into her spot next to him.

By the time I made my way to the District 1, 2, and 3 chariots, the crowd had calmed down a bit. The district one girl rolled her eyes, but I could tell the boy was blushing a little from the exchange, which made me laugh. Aphrodite was a charmer after all, am I right?

Time slowed down as I looked up at the district 2 chariot. Now, I have never been thrown off by a guy before, I mean my best friend was the famous Finnick Odair for god's sake, but the male tribute from 2 was like no guy I've ever met. I guess you become accustomed to what you see all the time in your own district; in mine, the guys were all lean muscle from working and swimming all day, decent heights, handsome faces. There wasn't many rugged males there. But _he_ was muscular, insanely tall, blonde, and devastatingly good looking. _Yeah, he would probably be the one with the highest kill count in the games_. My staring caused me to stumble just a bit. I brushed that off quickly. I tried to quickly place the flowers up onto the side of their chariot and make my way to the next, but before I could do that I felt something grasp my wrist and a pair of lips brush my hand, then I was let go. My eyes stared right into the piercing blue one's of the boy's the entire time. It seemed like I wasn't the only one who knew how to get a crowd going. I'm surprised my ears didn't start bleeding from the screeching of the crowd; that one little gesture was sure to spark an interest in everyone - seems like it already had. _God, Finnick is not gonna be happy with me: rule number one is already broken, as I've just interacted with every single one of the tributes before training._

I lightly sprinted back to my chariot, practically throwing District Three's flowers at them on the way. I'm sure everyone could tell I was slightly flustered from the exchange. President Snow stared right at me, to which I held up a rose and winked. He broke eye contact with me and finally began his speech again. I couldn't help but steal a few glances at district two, catching a glimpse of the boy every time. I wasn't sure why he decided to make a show out of my show, but I was kind of pissed and also incredibly unnerved.

The ceremony ended soon after that. It wasn't a shock when I was met with Finnick the second the chariot pulled back into hall. Cinna had a shit eating grin on his face, Johanna was laughing and didn't look like she was going to stop anytime soon, and Finnick was a cross between pissed and proud.

"You little minx." He pulled me into a hug. "You interrupted the President, made an entire crowd of people fall in love with you, got one of the highest praises from Caesar Flickerman that I've ever heard, and made a District Two tribute look like a big softy all in under 5 minutes. If you don't win these games, I think the entire capitol would be livid."

" _More importantly_ , did you see Snow's face?" Johanna was still laughing her butt off. "He- he was s-so mad! Oh man, I'm crying."

"I didn't know Two was gonna do that, he stole my thunder." I sighed.

"Honey, if anything, it just made you look twenty times more desirable. District Two is full of the fiercest, most malicious tributes and victors out there; do you understand what it means to have made him look like a lovesick fool out there?" Finnick explained to me.

"Yeah but did you see me? I probably looked like one too." I tried to argue.

"Yeah but you're supposed to be playing the part of the goddess of _love_ , people hope and expect you to act like that. _No one_ expects that from Two."

The more I thought about it, the more I could see the reasoning in Finn's argument. If the people saw me charming the pants off of someone like _him_ , then there had to be something special about me; Finn was right, he made me look all the more desirable.

"Ok, let's get you out of these clothes and into bed." Cinna cut in. "You have a big day tomorrow."

We made it up to the fourth floor of the building we were staying in without any trouble. Kai and his team came back a little after we did. While the glam crew took the stuff off my face and cleaned me off I was able to watch the tribute parade playback on the television.

"There we have district three, very interesting outfits this year, I always love seeing them." Caesar Flickerman was narrating. "And then we have...my god, District Four has outdone themselves this year Claudius. Is that...Aphrodite and Poseidon? What a gorgeous pair of tributes. Claudius, just look at her, Ms. Kalani Maverick, oh I have been looking forward to seeing her again since the reapings. It was just so inspiring to watch someone take a stand and volunteer to save someone's daughter when no one else would." _Was Caesar passive aggressively bashing the government?_ "She's gorgeous Claud, why if I didn't know any better I would say that was Aphrodite herself down there."

Claudius laughed along with his co-host.The two continued to talk about the rest of the tributes, and I was happy to see them not just brush over Rue but actually compliment her and go into light detail about her. That might help her gain some sponsors.

Nothing interesting happens for a couple of minutes, until President Snow comes onto the screen.

"Ah, and there's the man himself, President Snow everyone. Let's hear what he has to...wait a minute, Claudius look at this. Is that...ladies and gentleman, take a look, Kalani Maverick is out of her chariot, handing out flowers to the other tributes! What a beautiful saint that girl is. I mean, could they find anyone sweeter to play in these games?"

"Well, you know Caesar, Aphrodite was indeed the goddess of love and beauty, but there were many accounts where people underestimated her and she shocked them in the end with what she was capable of. She was not someone to be underestimated, and I hope none of these tributes do so with Kalani; after all, in the end, Aphrodite was still a _goddess_."

"Indeed, Claudius, indeed. Oh and look at that, she's headed for the usual career pack, wonder how that's gonna go down, they're not exactly known for their love and beauty - well maybe the beauty, but definitely not the love." They paused while the camera panned to a shot of me walking to District two's chariot. I could see the exact moment I laid eyes on the male tribute, and my stumble was definitely noticeable. "Oh Claud, look at this! Oh gosh, this reminds me of a certain tale I was told as a child. You do know that Aphrodite, although married, was taken with the god of war, Ares."

"Were they lovers?" Claudius asks.

"They were, they were! In fact, Ares is rumored to be her favorite lover - aside from Adonis - and it looks like mythology may be repeating itself here today folks, because Cato Hadley of District Two, dressed suspiciously like a war god, looks to be just as charmed by our very own Kalani Maverick! Look at that, a kiss on the hand! Oh, how sweet!"

"Well can you blame him Caesar?" They laugh. "Folks, we may have a love story to look forward to this year."

I turned the television off immediately. "Are they serious? Aphrodite and Ares? Love story? Who the hell is gonna believe that?"

"Well sweetheart," came my mentor's voice. "The answer to that question is everyone. As in everyone is loving this new _plotline_ , they all wanna see more Kalani and Cato moments."

 _Cato_. Even his name was hot.

"I'm not here to play along with some little love story, I'm here - against my will, might I add - to fight for my life." I sneered.

"I know, I know, but this could really help you."

"How?" My eyes rolled practically into the back of my head.

"More time is going to be spent on you and Cato, which means you'll be the talk of the games, there's not a single person, more importantly _sponsor_ , that won't know who you are. I'll talk to Brutus...actually I'll talk to Enobaria, she might be more willing to work with me than the Brute, at least not after all those bald jokes earlier."

I sighed. It pained me to admit it, but he was right. Yeah, sure, I was able to bring a lot of attention to myself before, but I need to remember that this was a show, they just wanted something interesting to watch. And Cato and I were apparently very interesting. No one had ever done a love story before, in the whole 74 years the games have been on. It was a good angle to play, and shit, Caesar made it seem even more interesting with the whole development of the Ares and Aphrodite storyline. If flirting with Cato was a way to bring in more sponsors and keep the people rooting for me then I would do it; my stubbornness and pride weren't worth losing my life over.

I groaned, which made Finn break out into a smile, knowing what was coming next. "I'll do it. But I won't like it."

"Oh doll," Finnick smirked, "I saw you get all flustered out there over that little peck on the hand. You're gonna _love_ this."

"Oh I'm gonna call you guys Catani!" Cinna says while brushing my hair. "Or Kalato! No wait, that sounds like gelato. Let's just go with Catani!"

Finnick busts out laughing while I let out yet another groan. "You guys are the worst."


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for taking so long with the update you guys! I'm in college and I've just been super busy with a lot of assignments, but I have some downtime and in between I try and write as much as I can get out before my head starts to hurt from all the planning and thinking lol. Thank you for being patient and waiting, here's chapter 4! (And also: MORE CATOOOOO!)**

"Morning Kalani." Kai is awake early like I am. He's sitting at the dining table and snacking on fruit. You can't find many sweets in District Four, but there is an abundance of fruit so it's what we all grow up on along with a lot of fish and other seafood.

"Do they have any mangos?" I ask.

Kai smiles, "They have everything." It's nice to see someone smile at me without it seeming forced or having some underlying sadness come with it. Kai is super sweet and a good friend to have with everything that's going on. Last night I had come to a decision; I know that everyone really wanted me to get in good with the careers and so I would, but if the careers wanted me then they would have to take in Kai as well. I was sure they wouldn't mind, after all Kai was strong and fast and had a lot of hidden talents that could really help us in the arena. And when it came down to the final few, Kai and I could split from the careers together, we'd make a great team despite being on our own and against other deadly tributes, but hopefully they'd all kill the worst of each other off before we had to deal with the remaining few.

"Hey, let's talk." I sit next to Kai and begin to tell him my plan. He shakes his head vigorously when I ask him for an alliance and doesn't even let me finish before asking for a partner deal. I immediately say yes and that if there were anyone in that arena that I would want to die fighting side by side with it would absolutely be him. We hug each other after and actually end up sitting in each other's arms for a while. We're only broken apart by the clearing of a throat. It's Finnick.

"Glad you two will at least have each other in there. Don't let them try and tear you apart, they fear district loyalty, it's the one thing they have trouble with: career districts won't hesitate to turn on each other if need be. Let that work in your favor, better they kill each other off first. Just be careful and stick together. And whatever you do _don't_ underestimate all the minor districts, remember that they've produced victors in the past before too."

"I mean yeah, but not as many as the career districts. There's a reason there are so many of them." Kai points out.

"No, Finnick is right." I interrupt before Finn can keep talking. "You can be the strongest and best fighter in that arena, but your brute strength isn't going to do anything if you're stupid and don't realize that the small kid from three has rewired the electricity and set up traps to instantly kill you."

"Exactly," Finnick sighs. "That's how Beetee Latier won his games. Just...watch your backs. One and two may be easy to read, but everyone else isn't always what they seem to be in these games. No one is going to show you their entire hand during training."

"Which is the exact approach we're also taking." I guess. And I'm correct.

Finnick continues on to explain his master plan. Kai is let in on the little "love story" that is _Catani_ that they plan to center everyone's focus around in order to gain sponsors for me. I promise Kai to help him in whatever way I can if it truly does help me.

The rest of breakfast continues on a much lighter note. Soon Mags joins the table and Johanna actually makes her way to our floor for half of the meal. She's not so bad once you get past her rough exterior and sharp attitude. I begin to feel bad again for her tributes, they must feel pretty shitty knowing that their mentor wants nothing to do with helping them. I ask her if she's talked to them at all and my only response is, "I gave them all the information I could, it's up to them at this point whether they can actually keep themselves alive or not." Needless to say I don't bring it up again. Breakfast ends too soon and Finnick sends us off to get ready for the first day of training.

I get dressed slower than usual, even taking the time to put my hair into a french braid that extends into a fishtail, anything to keep me from the inevitable. It's only 20 minutes later that I end up back in the main room where Kai and our mentors, along with one Johanna Mason, are all waiting for me.

"Let's go over some ground rules children," Finnick starts. "Don't go for the weapons right away, careers will already have those stations covered for majority of the time. Remember: they're volatile, but they tend to not be the brightest; they'll probably avoid a lot of the survival stations, which will be crucial when it comes down to it. Probably around half the tributes in that arena will end up dying of natural causes, and you two won't be one of them because I'm gonna make sure you know what you're doing in there."

Surprising, Johanna jumps in with some advice. "Don't show off with your best weapon, try going with some other weapons you're familiar with; it'll be a good idea to get better acquainted with those anyways, after all, it's not a guarantee that you're even gonna get your best weapon in the arena. They all know you're from four, which means you're strong swimmers and you know how to fish and hunt well enough to feed yourselves. You're also probably a lot more experienced with animals than the careers. It'll come in handy this time around, I got some intel on what the arena is gonna be like this year; from what I've heard there's a lot of water."

There's an audible sigh of relief from Finnick, Kai, and me. Water is good, water is definitely familiar, and it's a huge advantage to us. We reach the ground floor only a few seconds later. We're running a little behind schedule, but Finnick says not to worry about it, apparently not everyone likes to show up on time the first day anyways. I guess no one is looking forward to learning how to evade death, or from the careers perspective: create it.

When Kai and I walk into the room we head straight for our assigned spots, standing right on the number 4 circles that are labeled on the floor. Not a few minutes later do the careers walk through the door. It's hard to find any of them intimidating because in reality they're only kids, just like the rest of us. Some here are younger than others, which makes it harder to think about, but we're still all just kids. The careers are no different, they're just been trained and manipulated their entire lives to believe that all of this - _these games_ \- were ok, that winning them and murdering the most tributes will somehow bring honor to their districts. I can hate them all I want, but I can't blame them for what they believe, I could only imagine what it must be like to grow up and have someone tell you that _this_ was the right way to live, that _this_ was moral and just. If anything they probably had it worse than the rest of us, they were being bred for this, their entire lives had led up to this exact moment, they had nothing else to live for really.

So no, I felt no intimidation or fear toward them; this is who they were _forced_ to be, if anything, all I really felt was sorry for them.

Kai's hand grips mine and I can only imagine it has something to do with the careers. "It's fine," I reassure him, "It's not like they can do anything to us right now."

"Yeah, _right now._ " Kai whispers. I squeeze his hand and almost don't let go, but when I think about how that might affect _Operation Catani_ I let go. The room is silent as other tributes from the rest of the districts gather into the room until finally it's broken by a woman dressed in all grey. Everyone's attention is immediately on her.

"Alright tributes, listen up. By this time next week you will all be put into an arena and only one of you will be coming out. In order to increase your likelihood of becoming that one person you will taught everything that you need right here in this room."

"Everything?" I interrupt her. I don't know what came over me or why I felt the need to interrupt her, I guess it might've just been the fact that they were acting like they were actually trying to help us survive when in reality they were compliant in sending us to our deaths.

"Excuse me?" The lady in grey as well as many of the other tributes direct their gazes toward me.

"I mean you said you're going to prepare us for _everything_ in that arena. So nature, the mutts, each other, _the game makers?_ " That last one makes her eyes widen. I know the game makers are watching too, they always do, right above us. They have nothing to worry about, they're not the ones who will be learning to fight for their lives alongside other kids who will be looking to end it. "If the game makers decide to produce a giant flooding and half the tributes don't know how to swim, what happens then? I mean I know I'll probably be ok seeing as I come from a district where you can swim before you can even walk, but what about everyone else?"

"We will be teaching-"

"Really? Because you obviously didn't teach it to the tributes of the 70th Hunger Games and when the game makers sabotaged the dam and flooded the arena everyone left except Annie Cresta, a district four tribute, drowned. How are you supposed to prepare us from the unknown without actually letting us in on what the arena is going to be like or what to expect when that would only lead to a more boring games? That's what this is all about anyways: the ratings, the most gory deaths, the shock that comes with us not knowing what's going on and then being thrown a curveball. You're not setting us up for success, you're setting us up for failure and calling one of us getting out of there a success."

"You're out of line Ms…" Grey lady narrows her eyes.

"Kalani Maverick."

"Ms. Maverick." She glares at me. "I assure you, we are going to try our best to keep you alive for as long as possible-" She stops and breathes in.

"Drawing out our deaths then?" I smirk, knowing I've won this argument. "How nice of you."

Lady in grey clears her throat and continues with what she was saying before I _rudely_ interrupted her. "Most of you will die of natural causes, which we will _try_ and teach you how to avoid while in the arena," she turns to me as she says the last part, "Other than that, many of you will be facing each other in there. We encourage you to visit _every_ station that you can while here. Lunch will be served at 12:30 and training will pick up an hour after that until 6 at night, to which you will then be sent back to your rooms. This schedule will be repeated for the next three days. We will call time when lunch is ready, until then _happy training_."

"And may the odds be ever in your favor." Kai and I say simultaneously. He and I look at each other and laugh. Kai suggests starting at the first survival station and making our way around until after lunch where we would then tackle a few of the weapons stations.

Coincidentally enough, the first station is centered around traps, ropes, and knots, some things that Kai and I, being from a fishing district, excell at. We're sitting down and I'm laughing at Kai, who has chosen to make a noose out of some rope, when two tributes come over to the station. I don't think anything of it until they don't sit down, instead choosing to stand there and stare at us. I look up at them the exact moment the girl decides to speak up.

"What you did was really cool." Finally they sit down. "I mean standing up to one of the trainers, it was really brave of you."

"Yeah well there's not much else they can do to me. I mean they're already trying to kill me, right?"

This makes everyone laugh. "I'm Dana and this is Henry, we're from district 7. Lumber."

My face falls. They're from district 7, Johanna's district. So many questions are spinning around in my head. _Do they know about how Johanna has been hanging around with us recently? Do they know that their mentor explicitly stated her opinion on them probably not winning? Do they know she put her money - metaphorically speaking of course - on me winning over them?_

"Johanna is your mentor right?" Kai asks. _Oh god Kai, why?_

"Yeah, she's...interesting."

"What's your district like?" I immediately change the subject.

For the next few hours Kai and I make our way around the survival stations with Dana and Henry. They teach us a lot about different types of plants and whether they're poisonous or not, while we teach them how to make different traps and simple rope tying techniques. Along the way we meet a couple of other tributes, including Arient and Elliot from district 3 and Glover from district 9. We also run into Thresh and Rue for a couple of minutes. Rue speaks excitedly about how funny she thought it was when I talked back to the trainer.

And then lunch is finally called and I'm glad because I'm hungry and bored. I internally shriek when I see one of the plates they're serving.

"They have _poke_." Kai gasps. We both grab a bowl and sit at a random table.

"What are you gonna work on after lunch?" Kai asks me. I tell him that I'm probably gonna steer clear of spears and tridents, so maybe I'll work with knives. There's also a track and a pool on the opposite side of the training room that no one seems to be heading toward so I decide I might head there either later today or tonight. Kai then tells me his plan for the rest of the day: "I might just stick with you if that's alright, just for the first hour or so, and then I may practice with the spears. I'm ok with them, maybe I can get a little better before the games. I'm a lot better with knives."

"If you help me with knives then I can help you with the spears."

"Deal." Kai's face drops a little as his eyes shift from my face to behind me. "And so marks the beginning of _Catani_."

I begin to ask him what he means when I sense someone occupy the seat next to me. I know exactly who it is before any words even leave his mouth. "Nice speech back there, pretty ballsy if you ask me."

"Good thing no one asked you." I shove some of the ahi tuna into my mouth and keep my eyes on Kai who looks exceedingly uncomfortable as three of the other four careers take a seat at our table.

"Ok, no need for the sass, baby shark." _Fuck, his mentor must've mentioned that. I hate that stupid egg head even more now_. "So is district 4 good enough to get into the career pack this year or would it be a waste of our time to have you two try out?"

"I'm sorry, try out? You really think you guys are special enough that other people need to try out to get in but you four are automatically included? What if one of you sucks at fighting or really has no special weaponry skill? Hypothetically speaking _of course_." I snap at him. This time my eyes find his and - not to be dramatic or anything - but it's like staring out into the ocean; his eyes are terrifyingly beautiful and I instantly hate myself for thinking that.

Kai surprisingly backs me up; however, I'm the only one who understands what he's actually saying. He chuckles, "Haole," it means _foreigner_ but where we're from it's typically used to describe _white people_ and pretty much everyone outside of district 4, "Manaʻo lākou he maikaʻi lākou ma mua o kākou." _They think they are better than us._

That makes me laugh, which prompts Cato to ask what he said. Instead of answering him I turn back to Kai. "E ho'āʻo mākou iā lākou he hewa." _We will prove them wrong._

Everyone at the table other than me and Kai are confused. I spot Rue from across the room, sitting alongside Thresh. They're not speaking from what I can tell, but that doesn't stop me from standing up - Kai following my lead - and heading over to their table, leaving the careers more baffled than they were before I'm sure. When I take a seat next to Rue - and Kai awkwardly sits next to Thresh - I immediately begin conversation.

"How are doing with everything so far?" I ask Rue. She smiles shyly and tells me all about how she spent a lot of her time at the survival stations.

"I know it's not exactly the coolest thing in there," she tells me, "but it's not like I can throw a knife or wield a sword."

"You know what else isn't cool?" Kai jumps in. Along with him I answer, "Dehydration." We laugh.

Rue is surprised that I knew what he was going to say. "It's kind of like a joke in our district. When you're around a lot of salt and out in the sun all the time you tend to dehydrate easier. Sometimes people will complain on the boats about stupid things and one day this really old fisherman in our district, everyone calls him Fishfry, was listening to this kid complain about how his dad wouldn't let him take the boat out for longer than a few hours and Fishfry made that joke. I guess it's funnier when you know him and how he talks."

"Anyways," Kai continues, "Just because you can't use a weapon doesn't mean you're useless in that arena. You heard what that trainer said, a lot of people are gonna... _die…_ " he chokes out the word, "from natural causes. You knowing how to survive will keep that from happening, and may play a part in a lot of the larger opponents being... _disposed of_ first."

Rue thinks about it for a second and then smiles. And then something truly surprising happens, _Thresh speaks_.

His accent is heavy and his voice is deep, nothing like Rue's. "I told you. Keep hidden, find food. You could make it longer than many of them." He uses the term 'make it longer' instead of 'make it out' I notice. He doesn't want to give her false hopes about winning, and I can understand that. Rue may have a chance to make it close to the end, but realistically the odds are not in her favor, and that just makes me sad and angry. The gamemakers would never make it easy for people like her to win; they don't want a victor like her, they want someone bigger and stronger and fiercer, someone like Thresh or even Kai, someone like _Cato_. The career pack would gut Rue the first chance they got in that arena... _unless..._

I stand up and make my way back to the table the careers still occupy. "Kai and I wanna join the careers. Meet us after lunch near the traps and ropes station, if you know you even where that is," I say sarcastically. "You won't be disappointed."

My plan is clear to me: not only would it benefit me to be in the careers, but if I could divert them from Rue then she could find a way to survive longer than a lot of them. She may just have a chance at winning if I can help her by keeping four of the most murderous tributes as far from her as possible.

As I begin to walk away Cato seems to feel the need to have the final word. "I sure hope we won't be."

 _You're not the only one._

 **Do you hate me? I hate me. Not much Cato, I know, I know! I'm trying, but nothing will be half assed, I need the buildup to be as dramatic as I am. Hope you guys enjoyed, leave a comment about what you thought, I live for them! Next chapter: district 4 is full of badasses. I mean come on, they literally live in a district where their main functioning includes using all kinds of weapons every day, they have increased knowledge about sea life and making traps and so many other things. They may not train for the games, but indirectly they're very prepared. Also: if you noticed I gave a little hint about the arena for this story, it** _ **will not**_ **be like the one in the book because I want my OCs to obviously have an advantage. What can I say? I'm biased. Anywho, I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can get around to it, until then** _ **happy hunger games**_ **! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone, welcome back! Here's the next chapter for those of you waiting! Hope you enjoy, thank you so much for reading and please leave a review telling me what you think! I got one review I believe that said they hoped Kalani didn't join the careers, lol well wait and see what she does. Remember: people can change their minds about certain things. And you never know what could happen in the arena and the games. Speaking of games….I wonder what with become of those...hint hint maybe. I'm still deciding what I'm going to have happen later in the story. Escape? No escape? Murder? What do you guys think? Please let me know what you believe would work with the story the best, I love opinions (when they're nice lol).**

I told Kai about the plan working itself into my mind. Even though he knew it meant him potentially dying, he agreed to help me.

"I don't think it would be too good of an idea to join them though. It would seem like a better idea to stick with Rue and maybe get Thresh's help so that we could protect her better. Not knowing where she is in that arena could do more harm than good for her sake." Kai suggests. I think about it for a second and realize it's probably a better idea than mine. Unfortunately, I've already told the careers we wanted in, which means we'll be backing out of an agreement and they might not be too happy about that. I tell Kai of my concerns.

"That's not the worst thing in the world. The way I see it, we have one of two options," he begins, "We could show the careers what we've got and impress them enough to make them angry for not joining. They'd probably try and track us down in the arena because they'd see us as threats, if we stay away from Rue then she has a better chance of not running into them while they chase us, if we stick with her we have a better chance of protecting her. If we don't show them what we can do then they might think we're actually not good enough to join them and they won't bother with us hopefully, but then again that could go the other way and they could decide to slaughter the easiest targets first. It's a toss up."

"They could also become angry with us for going back on them and teaming up with someone else when they actually see us in the arena not completely sucking." Kai laughs at that. "That could spur them to retaliate." I point out.

Both of us seem to be at a loss. Finnick has given us good advice up until now and what I was about to say would probably piss him off.

"We can't look weak now. They'll think something's up if we don't go through with this."

Kai smirks. "Then let's give em a show."

After lunch training starts right back up. I'm stretching on the floor near the station that I told the careers to meet us by while Kai examines the weapons wall on the opposite wall.

"He aha nā mea kaua e hoʻohana nei mākou?" Kai asks as the careers walk over. We decide it's too dangerous to speak in english around the baboons - aka careers - and so we stick to our native tongue. Loosely translating, he's asking me what weapons we should use to impress everyone.

"ʻAʻole ko mākou poʻe maikaʻi loa." I tell him. _Not our best ones._ That would be a mistake. It's too dangerous to show our greatest strengths to people we don't actually trust. The nod my district partner gives me tells me that he understands and agrees.

"Are you two just making noises? Or is that, like, and actual language?" The blonde girl asks. I don't think it's meant to be rude, in all honesty she most likely was truthfully curious about what we were saying. But, nevertheless…

"That's a little racist, don't you think?" I narrow my eyes.

There's no response from her.

Kai laughs. "Haole." It's the second time he's called them that and Cato, unfortunately, notices.

"What does that mean?"

Kai successfully dodges the question by…well, walking away. I follow him over to where his eyes had been set since we had gotten back to the training room. The weapons wall held pretty much everything imaginable, from swords and daggers to spears and shields. And at the very top of the wall was a line of different weapons, all too high to reach, cut off from the rest of them. At the very end of the line was the only one that stood out, it wasn't a weapon anyone else had ever used in the games before and it had been wielded by the youngest person to make it out of the arena alive.

"Finnick's trident."

For some reason it didn't feel right for it to be there. It was Finnick's, he should've been the one to decide what happened to it; in all honesty he probably would've had it destroyed after using it to take the lives of multiple other innocent kids.

I took a look at the rest of the weapons in the line, not exactly understanding why they were there. That is until I came across an ax and it clicked. "It's the weapons of every previous victor."

"Almost." Cato says from behind me.

I look at him, confusion evident on my face. "I'm sorry?"

"Almost every victor." He clarifies. "But not every victor has used a weapon to win the games."

This makes me smirk. "Right. You should all do well to remember that."

Cato's face scrunches. He knows I'm right, he was the one to point out the obvious after all. No one should be underestimated in these games, and that was always the careers' downfalls, that and they all turned on each other like it was nothing by the end of the games.

"So we'll just pick our weapons and-" Kai starts, but Cato doesn't let him finish.

"Oh no, we don't care about weapons yet. We wanna see whether or not you can hold your own when you're defenseless in the arena. You can wield a weapon perfectly for all we care, but if you get disarmed and can't fend off an attacker, well then we're gonna have a problem."

As much as I hated to admit it, he had a good point. God forbid someone did disarm you, the rest of the group can't be watching your back if they're already having to watch their own. Lucky for me, I'd grown up with an older brother who'd taken an interest in fighting at a very young age. When your dad dies and you're just so full of anger, I guess you go looking for an outlet. Finnick helped too, he'd been a good mentor toward my brother and I, and for as long as I can remember he'd taught us how to defend ourselves - especially me; I think Finn was afraid something like this was gonna happen one day and he'd been preparing us. My brother made it out...I hadn't, and now his lessons were gonna have to actually serve a purpose.

But I, as well as Kai, had another advantage. Growing up in district four makes for a great training ground. Everyday is like living in the games there, minus everyone trying to kill you. By the age of 5 it was basically law that you be able to swim and hold your breath for at least three to four minutes. The waves could get crazy, and if you were swept under and the current took you, then you needed to be able to survive with no air long enough to make it back to the surface. Balance was a priority if you wanted to make sure your body _stays_ on a boat in bad weather; but it wasn't an uncommon occurrence for people to fall off fishing boats. This meant many encounters with dangerous marine life, especially during seasons when predators, primarily sharks, came closer to the shorelines. Not saying we wrestled with sharks or anything, but we knew how to deal with them enough to make it out of the water alive. Everyone lived off of the fish and other seafood that they themselves caught, meaning we knew how to hunt and find food when needed and that we wielded weapons at young ages - spears, harpoons, knives. As a kid in Four, you're taught to be able to tread water for at least an hour, and you're warned early on in life the dangers of being alone in the water, including running the risk of shark attacks or shallow water blackouts. Our muscles are toned from hard labour, our endurance is long lasting from the amount of time we spend in the water and out in the hot weather, and our skin is tanned - which means less chances of getting sunburned - thanks to our heritage and being in the sun all day. People overlooked us because we weren't a district that trained our kids for the games and yet we were considered another career district.

"Alright, Kai, you wanna kick one of these guys' asses first, or shall I?" I winked at him. Kai let out a laugh before moving out of my way and motioning me forward, as if to say _after you_.

I measured up all of the trainers and choose the person I thought would be the toughest opponent. In retrospect, not the greatest idea, but I wanted to prove I was more than I seemed. If I could beat up both my brother and Finnick, I could take down one dude. The trainer I picked was massive, but that probably meant he wasn't as fast and he would have a harder time keeping up in terms of endurance. Not many people realized it, but fighting humans was a lot like dealing with animals.

"You pick the biggest dude up there Four? Are you crazy?" I hear the kid from One, Marvel, laughing.

"Laugh all you want over there, Marvin," I roll my eyes.

"It's Marvel." He corrects me.

I turn my back on him and take my stance across from the trainer. I wait. "But here's a question for you. Would you rather swim with sharks or alligators?"

"What?" I hear the careers mumbling behind me. But I know Kai understands exactly where my question is leading. The trainer makes the first move by throwing a punch, but I duck just in time and twist my body backwards, bringing my foot up above my head and effectively kicking him in the face. He stumbles back, but recovers pretty quickly. It wasn't a hard kick, but that was the point; this was a lesson, and I would need to bide my time for them to learn it. "Just answer the fucking questions Marco."

"Marvel!" He corrects me again. "I don't know….I guess alligators since they're smaller."

"Wrong!" I yell out. This time I take the first punch but it's faked and when the trainer tries to dodge it by turning his head my other fist makes it way around to meet his face. While he's disoriented I grab ahold of his arm and turn so that my back is against his chest. With some effort, he's flipped over my body. "Sharks are pretty chill creatures, they're not prone to attack unless provoked by invading their territory or if they mistaken you for food, and even when they attack they become aware that humans aren't their usual prey of choice. You see, humans don't taste that good to them, so they bite and then they usually just let go. But alligators, well they're assholes, they'll usually eat anything."

The trainer gets back up, and I give him credit because that was a hard hit before, right into the temple. I think I may have pissed him off. "But besides that," I continue, "Which one would you probably rather have to fend off an attack from?"

"Ok this time the answer has to be an alligator." He says.

"You are oh for two my friend." I laugh. The man in front of me is definitely angry that I'm showing him up, but that's good, that means his emotions have taken over, and when that happens so do mistakes, people get sloppy when they're panicked. He comes at me again, this time full force, and it doesn't take anything more than a side step to dodge him. At the same time I stick my arm out and swing it into his neck. He stumbles and lands on his knees before recovering again, this time not as quickly. "Sharks are usually bigger, especially the more well known ones like the tigers and bulls and greats, and of course those are all the more aggression types, but handling them is relatively easy as long as there aren't too many and as long as you remain calm." Trainer man charges. "A kick in the nose," my foot meets his nose, "a jab in the eyes," I send my fist into his right eyes and he falls to the side, landing on his knees, "or even a hit to the gills," my knee makes contact with his stomach, knocking the wind out of him, "will send even the largest of sharks on their way. Because sharks like easy prey. If they feel threatened, they back off. Truth is, sharks are probably more scared of us than we are of them."

To my surprise, but also utter joy, my new favorite trainer stands up. He really can take a hit...or hits. "But alligators are harder to fend off, because at least if a shark attacks you they let go. Alligators, however, have this mechanism in their jaws." I run at the trainer, jumping at the opportune moment and wrapping my legs around his neck. "It allows their jaws to lock when they clamp down on their prey, before they drag them into deeper water and bring them into something called a death roll," I throw my body back and to the side, landing the both of us flat on the ground, my legs still around his neck, cutting off his air supply. "Where the alligator spins its body around and around to disorient and thus drown its prey." After a good few seconds of struggling the trainer tapped out. I let him go and he congratulates me on a good fight. I jump down, back to where the careers are standing and smile. "Most people chose a smaller opponent because they think it'll be easier to win against them, not realizing that the smaller guy may have more up his sleeve than they realize. Don't underestimate your competition Mario, it might just get you killed." And with that, I make my way over to the water fountain, feeling both insanely parched and ultimately satisfied.


	6. Chapter 6

**hELLO! Here I am with another update! Sorry it took so long, I have no excuses. Also, just so you know, I saw Infinity War opening night and am still recuperating, however my sanity is still not completely in tact, so there's that. Hope you guys enjoy and please remember to review what you think, I love reading your thoughts on everything!**

Finnick almost never got mad at me, and so when I got back to our floor that night I knew I was in for it the moment I saw him. "What the _hell_ were you thinking?"

 _Yikes._ "Ok, I know what I did was reckless and totally against what we talked about, but just listen to me for one second!" I begged. "I too am very surprised that the fight went that much in my favor, I really thought that guy was gonna kick my ass."

"That's really not helping your argument." Finnick slapped a hand over his face.

"Would you just listen to me, the statement is a two parter!" I complain.

"Well bring on part two because part one isn't making me any less angry here, Kalani."

"I didn't know if I would win or not but that means something to them, I picked a fight with a dude three times my size and was able to take him down because I was smarter than him, not because I was stronger. I won and they're intimidated now, they'll want me in the careers, isn't that a good way to stay somewhat protected for a good portion of the games?"

"Yeah it is Kalani, but have you thought about what that means?" Finnick grabbed onto both of my hands and sat me down in front of him on one of the couches. "Lani, do you honestly think you could play off the _big bad career_ in those games? Killing a bunch of kids? Watching them die right in front of you? Not retaliating against one of the actual careers?"

I didn't answer at all, I just didn't know what to say to him. On one hand, I really wanted Finnick - as well as myself - to believe that I could do what I had to in order to get out of the games; but on the other hand, I knew in my heart that that just wasn't who I was. I wasn't a killer, not a cold blooded one, not one like the Capitol wanted. If it came down to it, yeah I might be able to kill one of the older kids who came at me first, I might be able to kill in self defense and live with myself, but to kill an innocent little kid for no reason other than to save my own skin when they were defenseless and just trying to make it back home like I was...I couldn't, and I knew that I wouldn't.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "But Finnick...I don't know what the best move here is. I'm trying to be smart about everything, I'm trying to make what I think are the best moves, I know I'm in no way the strongest competitor this year, but I can be the smartest, I can _try_. But I need help, I don't know what's right and wrong anymore." By the end of my little speech I was practically sobbing. Kai hadn't moved up or said anything up until tears began to come out of my eyes. Him and Finnick moved onto opposite sides of me on the couch.

"It's ok Lani, we'll fix this, we'll make sure you're safe in there." Finnick kissed my forehead and kept his arms wrapped tightly around me. "Do you wanna go for a swim? They have a pool next to the training center, we can work on some extra survival and fighting skills for a while and then jump in the water, how does that sound?"

"That sounds like the best idea I've heard all day." I smiled.

A short talk with Kai, an quick invitation to Johanna, and fifteen minutes in order to change was enough time wasted, I was the most excited I'd been this entire trip. The knowledge that I would soon be in the water had me giddy, and it seemed like Kai and Finnick were feeling the same way. Johanna rolled her eyes at all of us. "You're all way too happy to simply be going for a swim."

"Growing up in four, the water is more of a home than the land we live on." Kai explained, sounding genuinely happy for the first time in the last couple of days. "Guess we're all just really excited to get back into it."

Johanna didn't comment on that. The doors opened a couple of minutes later, and we walked through the hall into the training center.

"Oh great, careers. Of course they'd be here." Johanna mumbled next to me. "Maybe we can take the back way, I don't feel like throwing hands with a bunch of teenagers, not tonight at least."

"It's fine, they're too busy training. And besides, Kalani and Kai already proved they belonged in the career pack today. They won't bother us." Finnick told her.

It was true. Along with me, Kai really kicked ass. He'd taken on two guys at once, something about having to look just as badass as I did, apparently I was a tough act to follow. But he won, and it was totally awesome to watch. I felt like a proud mom, even if I was only a year older than him.

We made our way to the opposite side of the training room, almost getting past the careers without them noticing. Key word: almost. It's like I was on Two's permanent radar now, because before walking through the doorway to the indoor pool room - which made no sense because the walls were glass and see through, so there was no real need for them to be there - his eyes locked right onto my own. I decided to let myself have this one, I deserved it after this afternoon. So, I threw him a playful little smirk and a wink before turning back around, almost running right into Johanna who had stopped to stand directly in front of me.

I stumbled a little bit, and my smirk fell while her's grew. "Look at you playing the part of flirty little Aphrodite. Careful goddess, you're all love, and he's all war."

"All is fair in love and war." My smirk returns.

"How poetic." She chuckles.

Finnick is the first one into the water, and he doesn't come up for a couple of minutes. Kai follows suit, and then Johanna. And I'm the last one.

"Fish out of water!" Kai and Finnick scream simultaneously. I laugh at their antics. Fish out of water is a children's game back at home, like Marco Polo, and sometimes the two are conjoined to make one big game. It was my younger twin siblings' favorite game to play. I used to get so annoyed with them wanting me to play it for hours on end, and now here I am, wishing I was home to play it with them from sunup to sundown.

Looking around, I spot a beam, and following it to the end I spot a ladder, probably used to reach the light fixtures. "Let's make this more fun." I run back into the training room, in just my bathing suit mind you - I could practically feel all the careers eyes on me, but I had my own mission to complete, so I ignored them. There was some strong rope at the snares and traps station that I'd seen earlier. Grabbing some, I ran back into the pool room, climbing up the ladder and quickly, but efficiently, tying a strong knot around the beam I'd been eyeing earlier. When I knew that it would hold my weight, and that it was tied as tightly and as best as possible, I put my plan into action.

With one strong push off the wall ladder, I was flying through the air and right over the deep end of the pool. I let go right in time to pull off a perfect dive, if I do say so myself. When I broke the surface a few seconds later, I could hear cheering from Johanna and fighting from Kai and Finnick.

"No, me first!"

"Why do you get to go first!?"

"Because I'm prettier than you!"

"Well I'm the one that might die in a few days, so I think I should at least get this one thing."

Finnick gaped. "Wow, you're gonna milk that the next couple of days, aren't you?"

Kai smirked. "Oh, absolutely." And with that, he began to climb the ladder to the makeshift rope swing I had made.

"Dick." Finnick mumbled.

We all took turns with the rope swing after that, at some point it became a competition of who had the best jump and who looked the coolest while doing it and who could pull off the most flips in the air before hitting the water. Finnick argued that he obviously won all of them, but I beg to differ, I definitely won those.

When we got bored of that, we looked for other ways to feed our competitive natures. "Bet I can hold my breath longer than you under water." Finnick challenged me.

"Bet."

Kai joined in, and Johanna agreed to time us, knowing that she probably wasn't going to win this one.

I knew I would win it before I'd gone under. At the age of ten, I'd gotten caught in a bad wave while learning to surf with my brother. I'd been under for practically three minutes, and it was one of the most scary moments of my life. After that, I'd practiced holding my breath under water almost every single day, until I could breath for at least six minutes. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it.

When I came up, there was a lot of yelling.

"Dude she's fine!" It came from Kai.

"She was laying at the bottom of that pool for over five minutes! You should've made sure!" That was...Cato?

I rubbed the water out of my eyes and looked over at the edge of the pool where Cato was standing, looking pissed off, which was probably his natural state.

"What's going on?" I asked, not to anyone in particular.

"Brutus with hair was freaking out because he thought you were drowning." Finnick explained. "He wanted us to check on you, and got all pissy when we said you'd be fine."

I looked over at Cato. "I was fine. I can hold my breath longer than that, I come from a water district after all."

"Then why can't Finnick and Kai hold their breaths for that long?" Clove, the girl tribute from two, stepped into the room.

"Because Finn and Kai suck."

"Blow me, Maverick." This prompted a splash fight between the two of us, which turned into an actual fight, which Finnick won by jumping on top of me.

"God, you're so fat!"

"I'm broad and chiseled, you tiny human!"

"No! Cato is broad and chiseled! You're just fat!" I laughed. Nothing makes men more mad than being compared to other hot men.

"Now, that was just hurtful," Finnick frowned, "I'm sensitive you know."

"So you're ok then?" I heard Cato ask from behind me.

"Yeah, now good back to stabbing your dummies."

There was something about the look Cato gave me before he walked out of the room, and the way he didn't bother going back to training after our confrontation. He'd just left, looking tense and irritated. Maybe I'd made him angry with that last comment. But that wouldn't explain the look. It was one that my brother had always given me while growing up, one that Finnick had every time we talked about me going into the games, one that Kai had when we would strategize. A protective one, a look that said _I'm here to commit a murder and hide the body if you need me to_. Ok, that was a little intense, but nonetheless, I knew that look. I just didn't know whether that was a good or a bad thing for me.

I'd woken up early the next morning to watch the sunrise. Kai was supposed to join me, but he decided to sleep in, and Finnick went to Johanna's floor to talk to her about something, so I went alone. Or at least I thought I would be alone. The elevator opened on my floor, and inside it was none other than the angry, beautiful, blonde man that had invaded my thoughts the entire night. I still wasn't too sure about his looks the other night, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to figure them out either.

"Are you coming in or do you just wanna continue to stare at me, because if I miss the sunrise I'm gonna be pretty pissed."

"You're going to watch the sunrise?" I chuckle unbelievably. I stepped into the elevator. "That seems completely out of character."

"Yeah, well it was kind of a tradition to do so in my house on Sundays." He glares at me after. "If you tell anyone, I'll skin you alive in that arena."

"Now that sounds more like you." I rolled my eyes. And the elevator doors shut, leaving me in a confined space with the world's most beautiful future murderer and no immediate exit.

 **Here we go! Cato and Kalani alone time! Remember, we shouldn't trust Cato completely, he definitely has something up his sleeve. It's important to note that the careers will always want to align themselves with the person they can get the furthest through the games with, it makes for a better end fight, and it can help with sponsors because it makes them look better. Cato might not be so protective over her just because he thinks she's pretty, but because she can benefit him in some way. Or maybe he's just in love with her already. Believe what you will! Remember to review review review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm here, I'm here, I'm here! It's me! I'm updating! I know, what a surprise. I've never been more sorry about taking forever to update! This one is dedicated to someone who finally pushed me to write (and rewrite) the rest of this chapter, lol you know who you are! Just realize please that I do this as a hobby, and I have many other things going on, like school and working. Trust me if I could update more often I would spend days just zipping through this story, but I have to limit myself because, well life. Rest assured, I won't be giving up on this story, it just might take me a hot minute to update. Thank you for reading everyone, here's the next chapter and please remember to review and share your thoughts!**

 **Xoxo**

Cato and I didn't talk to one another on the elevator. I was grateful for the silence. He was intimidating in all sorts of different ways; one of them was in a mysterious way that intrigued me and the other was in a murderous kind of way that made me want to stay far away from him. But if I was going to die in the arena then I wanted to be able to see the sunrise a few last times, and though Cato might be the one to take my life, I wouldn't let him be the one to take this small piece of happiness away from me as well.

"You're awfully quiet this morning," Cato's voice was raspy, "what, no sarcastic comments?"

"I don't have the energy to think of clever insults for you right now, male Enobaria." I rolled my eyes and huffed. "Ugh, see that was terrible. God, I could've used anything else. Killer ambition, homicidal hunk, overgrown manchild with violent tendencies. I'm losing my touch. Give me a couple of minutes."

"Those are terrible insults, I was expecting so much more from you." There was a shadow of a smile that overcame his features. _Don't do that,_ __I thought, _don't act so human._

"I said give me some time, they'll get better the more I wake up."

Silence again.

We were both perched on the edge of the building while overlooking the rest of the Capitol. The thing about it was...it wasn't at all awkward. In fact, sitting there and not speaking was actually kind of peaceful. For once since I'd arrived here, there was actual, uninterrupted silence. I peeked over at Cato who had his eyes closed and was lying along the edge of the building; I hadn't known him for long at all, but I knew that he'd never looked so at peace. All of his facial features that had once been hard had now softened. I wondered briefly whether he got many instances like this, ones where he didn't have to pretend to not care or act like the big bad Career that he was made out to be. Spending so much of their lives training in his District, I doubt he had time for anything else. He was a child bred from birth to fight a war that wasn't his to fight. _We all were were being forced to fight, the difference is he probably believes this is all his life is worth_. That seemed even worse to me.

"How long have you trained for these games?" Cato mumbled.

I didn't entirely know what to tell him. Did he think that all of the Districts were given the option to train for the games? It was technically not allowed, but 1 and 2 did as they pleased, and the Capitol let them because they brought in money, they were the stars of the games. I hadn't trained for these games, not in the way that he had. I'd prepared myself sure, but I hated the idea of calling it "training," as if I'd planned on going into these games. Unless that's what he thought.

"You think that I wanted to be in the Hunger Games?" I whispered.

His eyes opened and stared off into the orange and yellow filled sky. "Well you volunteered. Generally, that means you willingly are going into the games. And no one is stupid enough to go into them voluntarily without having some sort training or something that drives them to believe they have a shot at winning. So how long?"

The scowl that covered my face must've come as a shock to him because his face fell a little when his eyes looked into my own. "If I had a choice, I would never be in these games."

"But...you had a choice. You chose to volunteer-"

"I _chose_ to save a little girl's life. I _chose_ to give a family a second chance at recovering from an already tragic loss, and I _chose_ to step up and do what everyone wished they had the guts to do but weren't _stupid enough_ to. But I _did not choose_ to come here and die. The Capitol, Panem, everyone who sits complicit with life as it is right now, they chose that for me."

He sat there, thoughtful. "We're not all that different, you know? You volunteered for your district, so did I."

"No, see, that's exactly where we're different." I huffed. "We may both be willing to die for our districts, but I'm willing to do so in order to save them, you're doing this for honor."

I could tell that statement was making him angry. "I don't know a lot about Four, but in Two honor means a lot, it's worth everything."

"Even your life?" At this point we were both facing one another, I had stood up, he was still sitting on the edge of the building, and yet he was still somehow taller than me. "I don't think honor is worth your life, Cato."

There was something that came over him then. It was anger, but I don't know if it was aimed at me for what I said, his district and the Capitol for putting him in this situation, or himself for finding truth in my words. And I would never find out, because he didn't bother saying anything else; instead, he stood up and walked away, taking the stairs back down to his floor this time.

"Everyone thank your female friend from Four, Ms. Maverick has brought up some concerns about problems in the arena that many of you may face but may not be able to survive given circumstances beyond your control, so we will be incorporating some new training into the program today that will hopefully help you." It was the same trainer from the day before that I had called out. "Some years ago, there was in fact an instance where the game makers flooded the arena and those who couldn't swim did not make it."

"They died. You can say the d word." I rolled my eyes.

"Thank you again, Ms. Maverick." She growled, which prompted me to throw her a cute little smirk. "Now I know it doesn't seem like much, but we will be having you tread water for as long as you possibly can. We will record the times and from there be able to see who needs more work in that area. After that you can all go back to training where you feel you need at any of the stations, we'll take lunch, and come back to run rounds on the obstacle course for the first time."

"Maikaʻi." _Exciting._ Kai mumbles next to me.

"I'm sorry, we're treading water?" A voice broke out from the line of kids next to us. It was one of the girls I hadn't spoken to before. "What does that mean?"

"It means we're gonna float for a long ass time, sweetheart." Kai smirked.

"Float?" Cato spoke up. "You're not serious?"

"You ever tried to float for long periods of time, hot Brutus? It ain't easy." I shot back at him. Surprisingly, he scoffed out a little laugh and muttered: "Insults are getting a little better."

"Four is actually correct." The trainer intervened.

"God, really? I wonder if it has anything to with being from the water district?" I feigned shock alongside Kai, who was holding in his laughter at my overt, albeit not needed, sassiness.

"Four, since you like talking so much, why don't you take over and explain to everyone what treading water is specifically, why it's important, and the reason it's so hard."

"Gladly." I stepped up to stand where she was. She definitely didn't think I'd actually do it, so when I did her eyes widened and she slowly walked off the platform. "Ok listen up kids. In Four, we have a saying: off the boat, stay afloat, lost in the ocean, lessen commotion. It basically means if you fall off the boat and are stranded at sea, your best bet is to keep position, which means no swimming off, you need to stay exactly where you are, which is where treading water comes in. Kai, why exactly do we have this rule?"

Kai didn't even hesitate. "Because there are designated fishing locations and staying near there gives you a better chance at being found and rescued by other boaters."

"Exactly. Treading water is all about preserving energy in the water, if you exert too much of it you could become too tired to continue on and you'll drown if that happens. You're body should never be horizontal, that would mean you're swimming, you should instead be vertical at all times. It's not easy, after a while it gets boring and you can cramp up if you're not doing it right."

"Ok but what if you knew where to swim to, why would you need to tread water then?" Clove, the younger girl from 2 and Cato's district partner, surprisingly asked.

"Good question, simple answer. You're ass better be making as little movements as possible in shark infested waters, I don't care if you can _see_ the shoreline."

"Who the hell has gone swimming in shark infested waters?" Clove questioned.

"Me." Kai and I said at the same time. Everyone looked at us like we were crazy.

"Three years ago, fell off a boat while fishing, two sandbar sharks started circling me within minutes. Everyone was afraid that trying to get closer to pull me out of the water would spook the sharks and provoke one of them to bite me. I think I treaded water for a good twenty minutes." Kai recounted his experience.

"No shit, you never told me." I laughed. "I was twelve and got caught in a rip current that took me half a mile down the beach, right where a couple of reef sharks were hanging out. Sharks are territorial, but more curious than anything. I didn't wanna freak them out so I treaded there for like a half hour before they eventually swam away and I was able to swim back to shore."

All of the kids in the room were staring at Kai and me like we were crazy, which wasn't totally unreasonable for a bunch of people that had never dealt with experiences like that in their lives. What they didn't realize was pretty much everyone in District Four has had encounters like that, it's bound to happen with how much time we all spend in the water, and more times than not, sharks are more afraid of us than we are of them, they just wanna be left alone.

"Have you ever been attacked by one before?"

"Shark attacks aren't too uncommon in Four, but no I've never been attacked by one." I said.

"I've never been attacked by a shark but this one time," Kai started, I let out a quick _'Oh, here we go'_ , "Can it, Kalani. This one time I was spear fishing and this fucking barracuda tried to catch these hands."

"You tried to spear the fish it was going after." I rolled my eyes.

"Law of the wild, the best hunter wins; that was _my_ snook."

"It wasn't even that big of a barracuda, and you weren't technically spearfishing, you were spearing fish on the shoreline, there's a difference."

"Technicalities." He crosses his arms. "It bit me."

"It nicked ur leg and swam away right after."

"I have a scar to prove it."

"I gave you that scar when we were 15 and I pushed you off the docks!"

"No you didn't, but I remember that and I still have nightmares about falling on top of that shark! Thank you very much for bringing it back up by the way!"

"You fell onto a _shark_?!" One of the other tributes shouted.

"It was a nurse shark, they're bottom feeders, he was fine. The thing swam off immediately." I waved her off.

"What the hell is in the waters over in District Four?" Clove looked genuinely concerned. She looked up at Cato next to her. "And people think we're the insane district."

"Maikaʻi, Kalani, ke manaʻo nei lākou ua naʻaupō kākou." _Good job, now they think we're crazy_.

I shrugged, "E manaʻo lākou i kēlā," _Let them think that_ , "We're just badasses."

"Ok that's enough," Leave it to the annoying lady trainer to ruin our fun. "Let's all get into the pools, we're wasting time."

I made sure to position myself on the outskirts of the group so that I wouldn't have to constantly turn to see everyone. While the trainers taught the other kids how to position their bodies, Kai and I began to mess around by splashing water at one another. We continued until lady trainer yelled out, "Begin!"

For the first ten minutes, things weren't too bad; of course, there were some who couldn't do it at all, obviously having no experiencing with swimming in general, so they were immediately out of the running. But after those first ten minutes, tributes started dropping off like flies. It began with the weaker or younger tributes, which was to be expected. And then the stronger tributes started to go, Thresh, both from District 1, Johanna's tributes in 7, the boy from 9, and the girl from 6. I looked over at Cato, who didn't look to be struggling too much. _I wonder if they have lakes or rivers in 2, or maybe they teach them to swim in pools._

After half an hour passed by, most of the tributes were out. Cato, Kai, and I made it to the final 3 when both the tributes from 5 decided they couldn't go on any longer and Clove got too tired. I could tell Cato was running low on energy, and a part of me felt bad. My leg reached out and brushed against his, which gained his attention. "You holding up over there alright, lover boy?"

"I think that's my favorite insult yet." Cato ignored my question, but I could hear it in his voice, he was tired.

I got a little closer to him. "Focus on breathing. You need to keep your breaths steady and consistent, or it'll get harder and harder to breathe. Just try and keep your head up above the water and relax as best you can."

"Hey!" Kai yelled from a couple feet away. "Stop fraternizing with the enemy!"

"Calm yourself over there clown fish, we both know I'm gonna take this one anyways. There's no way I'm losing to the both of you." I laughed.

"What's the longest you've treaded water for?" Cato asks in a low voice.

"A couple of hours. Try not to talk so much, it'll waste oxygen. Steady breaths." I replied. "My family owns an animal rehabilitation center back in Four, so I spend a lot of time doing this actually."

Cato groaned. "So there's no way I'm winning this."

"Probably not, but don't sell yourself short." I whispered so that no one would be able to hear us. I could tell he wasn't too happy about losing this competition, but everyone knew it would come down to the two tributes from the water district. "You lasted a lot longer than all of those other tributes."

"I'd be dead if this were the arena." I didn't know what to say to that, because he was right. Did his sudden self esteem drop have something to do with our talk from this morning? Cato today was different from Cato yesterday, and I didn't know why, but what I did know was that I didn't like this new side of him.

He lasted another five minutes before getting a cramp in his leg, and even then they had to force him out of the pool. _There's stubborn Cato_.

"And then there were two." Kai chuckled.

An entire hour passed by, and while some tributes decided they couldn't care less about us and took the opportunity for extra time to go and train, those that didn't particularly need it stayed to watch us - that being the Careers and surprisingly Thresh, along with Rue who said she just wanted to see me win. It wasn't long before they started betting on us.

By the two hour mark, I could tell that Kai was starting to struggle. "How you holding up over there, gorgeous?"

"I hate you." Kai sang.

Ten minutes later, Kai gave up. "I know my limits. But damn it girl, how long can u go for?"

"I'm not even tired." I smiled, back stroking all the way to the end of the pool. "But I am hungry, so let's go get food."

Getting out of the pool, I started toward the jackets that were given to us for when we got out, but a tall blonde had already beaten me to it. "Here." He handed it to me. I was weary, but I put it on nonetheless and began to follow the rest of the group out of the training rooms and towards the lunchroom.

My hands dug into the pockets of the jacket, cold from being in the water for so long and then being exposed to the cool air, and the right one touched something. I pulled out a folded up piece of paper. Unfolding it, I read the short but concise message.

 _Roof. Midnight._

"Kalani, you good?" Kai's voice broke me out of my trance.

"Yeah, yeah," I cleared my throat, "sorry, let's go."

"What's that?" He asked, nodding toward my hand.

I shrugged. "Nothing. Just a reminder for myself." Whether or not he knew I was lying, Kai didn't ask anything else about it.

Passing the garbage can on the way out the door, I threw out the piece of paper and kept walking.


	8. Chapter 8

**PLEASE READ::::**

 **OK HERE'S THE THING: I realized that I never included the private sessions into the chapter, and just completely forgot about them all together. SO I added them into the end of this chapter in order to help it fit well into the storyline. Caesar won't really be mentioning them in the interviews, it's not going to be his main focus anyway (wink wink) so no problems there. But because I put the private sessions in, I was able to add in another little Catani moment,** _ **what can I say except you're welcome.**_ **So ENJOY!**

The clock on the nightstand in my room read 11:25. It was weird to have an actual clock. Of course, I had seen one before, but we only owned one and it was put in the common area of my house, so if you wanted to know the time then that's where you needed to get up and go to. Akela and I had made a sundial as kids outside our room so that we would be able to look out the window when we needed to tell the time. Thinking about that made me miss my brother.

As the clock grew closer to midnight, I began to debate whether or not to meet Cato on the roof like he'd wanted. It wasn't the smartest idea and realistically he could be planning to fuck me over as soon as we got into the Games. But I so desperately wanted to know what he wanted from me. So I decided to woman up and before I could rethink what I was doing, I ran to the elevator and pressed the button that would take me to the roof.

I had gotten there early by 20 minutes at the least. So had Cato it would seem, because when the elevator doors opened he was sitting on the edge of the building, just like he had been this morning. He had heard the elevator, which had caused him to turn around. Whatever I was expecting from this encounter, it definitely was not what was about to happen.

"What's your play, Four?" Those were the first words out of his mouth. I'd seen Cato angry, multiple times actually, over the past few days. He had a constant mean face plastered on, causing him to become probably the most feared amongst the newest tributes. But this was different for some reason, I couldn't tell why, and that scared me more than anything.

"I'm sorry?" Was my response.

"You heard me." He stood up and walked forward until he was towering above me. We were too close for comfort. "The act that you're trying to pull, being all caring toward all the tributes, even the bigger and stronger ones. What is it about? Trying to make as many alliances as possible? Think it will save you when it comes time inside that the arena?"

I rolled my eyes. If I was reading the situation correctly, and I'm pretty sure I was, he had talked to his mentor about me. It wasn't surprising actually, Finnick had even warned me that secrets amongst mentors and tributes were rare; I guess I had hoped this would be different, because I hadn't entirely told Finnick the truth about him. How stupid of me. "Get over yourself Cato, I'm not playing anyone. I don't get why you can't understand that sometimes people are just _nice_."

"Not in these games they're not." He challenged. "No one is _just nice_ in the Hunger Games. Everyone is out to save their own asses, and when someone starts acting all sweet and caring and innocent it usually means something bad is gonna follow; I've watched Johanna Mason's games, I get it."

"Obviously you don't." I argued. "Why would I reveal that I could fight to you if I were trying to pull a Johanna Mason? I would pretend to be weak and not associate with any of the other tributes, and yet here I am doing the exact opposite. And I'm far from innocent and sweet. But being here, knowing that there's a chance I might be dead in the next few weeks, it makes you rethink a lot of things. Like the way you treat people. It's made me think about why some people are the way they are, and I'm choosing to believe that there are reasons behind the brutal mentality that the Careers hold."

"You're gonna be sorely disappointed the minute we get in that arena Four."

"Then I guess I'll have to deal with that when the time comes."

Cato didn't seem to have a response for that. He either didn't care enough to give me one, or I had rendered him speechless; my bet was on the former. There was a few seconds of silence, and then, "I think we can help each other out here."

What I had feared before was happening. _Now was the time,_ I thought, _I was going to have to choose between siding with the Careers or protecting Rue myself._

"You and I both want the same things: to make it to the end of those games as easy as possible. So I'm prepared to make you a deal. You and I are the fan favorites here, we're in the running right now to win this thing. What better way to end this year's Hunger Games with two of the Capitol's top picks dueling it out in the end."

I was astonished at his proposal. He'd offered me a final two deal, something that wasn't uncommon when it came to district partners, but certainly uncommon when it came to two people who came from opposing districts. It meant something, because he had Clove - from his own district - or even Marvel and Glimmer - from the traditional Career Pack - but he was choosing me.

"Why me?" I wanted answers. "There are plenty of other viable choices. Being the fan favorite, give me a break, that's not it. So why me?"

"Look, I know people think that I'm this big idiot who's all brawn and no brains, and that I probably believe my brute strength is gonna pull me through to the end of these games, but I'm not stupid. I know it's more than being able to wield a sword. I grew up learning everything I needed to know about being in that arena, and I know that the worst thing I could possibly do out there is underestimate everyone else. So they can all think what they want. I'm being realistic, one of us comes out of there, and if I pick someone who isn't just a good fighter, but has the votes of everyone else in the Capitol who isn't rooting for me, then that gains me favors. People already like the idea of us, why not play on that. It's called being a power couple, sweetheart."

I hated the valid points he was making. "Finnick talked to you, didn't he? That's where this is all coming from. _Great_ , so Catani or Kalato, or whatever the fuck, happens and brings in sponsors and I have to pretend to actually like you to win this thing."

"What?" Cato's eyebrows scrunch together. My heart drops into my stomach. "No, what the hell are you talking about? I came up with all of this the moment we stepped of those chariots the first day. Everyone went nuts for you, you practically _stole_ the attention from everyone else by trying to _bring_ the attention to them. It was insanely cunning. I knew from that moment you weren't just some bimbo, you knew how to scheme."

"Yeah," I scuffed, "until you stole my spotlight by pulling that little stunt with the hand kiss."

"That was me forcing my way into a possible alliance. Now if we pair up for this thing it doesn't look completely suspicious or out of the blue. People _want_ to see us together. I'm not saying you have to actually like me, or even pretend to have some sort of romantic feelings for me, I'm just saying: don't _not_ pretend. Let everyone else think what they want and don't try to make them believe otherwise."

He really was more than a pretty, yet scary, face. Without even speaking with anyone else, he'd devised an entire plan that had potential. I was mildly impressed, but I knew from the beginning that Cato knew what he was doing. He wouldn't have volunteered for the games otherwise.

"I'm not worried about me keeping up appearances, I can pretend to like you, hell I can even pretend to _like like_ you even. The real question is whether you can pretend to _like like_ me, because one slip and people might just see through your bullshit _Cato_." I smirked at him. Despite my words, I'd seen the reruns from the tributes parade, he pulled off his persona well. It wasn't me that had sparked an interest in 'Catani', it was Cato. I had just looked like a blushing fool because, well, I was at the time.

The blonde leans in close and his voice lowers an octave (how his voice could get any deeper was still a mystery to me.) "Trust me, sweetheart. I don't have to pretend."

That one line brings the blood rushing right to my face, and within seconds I'm a blushing mess...again.

This only causes him to smirk. "See what I mean. I think it's safe to say that my acting won't be a problem for us."

I had to get out of there. "I'll think about it."

a-a

Finnick was laying in my bed when I got back to my room about an hour later. He was staring at the ceiling before his attention was drawn to me as I walked through the door. "Where did you sneak off to, doll?"

I smiled and swan dove into the bed next to him. He was exceptionally warm, causing me to tuck into him more and more. He wrapped his arms around me and tangled our legs together. Things were strictly platonic between me and Finnick, and that was the best part about him; we could be this way with one another and there was no awkwardness, no questioning of feelings for one another. I needed someone to be there for me in this moment, and Finnick knew that. If I won these games, I would need someone there for me afterward as well, and Finnick knew that. In the midst of all the slaughtering and senseless deaths, I would need someone, and Finnick knew that too. The only problem was, he couldn't completely be there for me in the games, so he was trying to compensate by being there in the now, at every chance he got.

"You didn't answer my question." Finnick pointed out. "Where were you? I've been here for like an hour waiting for you to show up, butthead."

"Hey, there's no need for the name calling." I chuckled. _This was it. No more keeping secrets from Finnick. He should know about my encounters with Cato._ So I told him the truth, every last bit of it. The best part was, he just listened. And at the end of it, there was no judgment. Everything from here on out was strategic; if it got me closer to winning the games, it would need to happen.

"I think you should be weary of him. But if I'm being honest, his strategy is great. He's absolutely right, people love a good power couple. Romance has never been a part of the games, its new and exciting and it's what we were going for. Cato being in on it just makes it easier to sell." He ran his fingers through my hair. "I think you should consider his final two deal. Kalani, you could make it to the end. And you could beat him, I know you can. You took down that trainer in under five minutes, and it only took that long because you were lecturing during it."

I shook my head. "No, no, this is different, _he_ is different. The trainers are good at what they do yeah, but there's a reason the Careers never need them for anything other than being their fighting dummies. The Careers have trained their _entire_ lives for the games. They're school curriculums are based off them, they can fight before they can walk. Cato would take me down in an instant."

"Stop." Finn's voice is hard, he's even more serious than before. He sat us up and leaned our foreheads together, like he always did when things got intense. "You get to the final two, you get to water, and you _kick his ass_. No one in those games is gonna be able to do what you can do when it comes down to it, not when they're on your territory. I believe in you Kalani. It's time for you to start believing in yourself."

He was right, I'd said it to myself so many times and yet I haven't fully believed it. But if I could make it to the water, god hoping there was some in the arena, I could take anyone that came at me. I was a stronger swimmer, I could hold my breath longer, I knew how to fight in the water. I'd swam with sharks, I'd faced apex predators on their turf, I'd and come out alive _every single time_. I wasn't going to let a _kid_ take me down.

Finnick laid a kiss on my forehead. "Let's go to sleep, you have more training later this morning, and then the private sessions where they gamemakers will score you. And then interviews are tomorrow. So rest up."

"I love you, Finn."

"Love you back, Lani."

a-a

The next morning, Finnick woke me up early. I braided my hair and wrapped them into two buns on the back of my head. Finnick carried me on his back to the dining room to get breakfast, and by that I mean I forced him to carry me.

Kai was sitting at the table when we got there. He threw me a heartstopping smile and greeted me and Finnick. Mags was humming a little tune to herself while preparing plates for all of us. And Johanna Mason stepped through the elevator not ten seconds after we all sat down to eat.

"What's up future killers and killees, nice to see you all this fine morning, alive and well and all that jazz." She smirked and proceeded to plop down in the chair next to me. Her finger poked into my cheek and I snapped my teeth at her, pretending to try and bite it. " _Baby shark…_ " She mumbles and winks.

We all began to eat, and though I wanted to hold it in because I hadn't made up my mind on the matter, I knew I had to tell Kai. "Cato offered me a final two deal. He thinks pretending to be a power couple could help us with sponsors."

Kai's head shot up and his eyes pierced into mine.

"I haven't given him an answer yet."

"Well you should've." Kai's expression was grim, but not angry. "He's right, it could help you Kalani."

"That's not fair to you." I tried to argue.

" _None of this is fair to me!"_ Kai snapped. "It's not fair to any of us! But it is what it is." His voice grew soft. "Stop thinking about everyone else for just a second Lani, and think of yourself. One of us makes it out of there. If you and I were to make it to the end together, we have to be realistic. We can't kill each other. It's not who we are. You and I watched each other grow up. We played together. We went to parties together. We sailed together. Our families are friends. We're friends. We couldn't do that to one another."

I didn't realize I was crying until tears were streaming down my face. An arm wrapped itself around my shoulders and brought me closer to a warm body. _Mags_. She hummed her light tune and wiped the tears from my face, and she didn't let me go.

"He's right." It's the softest tone I'd heard Johanna use since I'd met her. "District loyalty runs deep. You know how many district partners have actually killed one another in these games? _Two_. In all the years this has gone on, between twelve districts, and one of them was accidental."

"You're gonna need to count on one another during the games, but the chances of the both of you making it to the end are slim to none. None of the other tributes would allow it anyways. The closer you get to the finals, the more they'll be gunning to get rid of one of you. Johanna is right, district bonds are strong, so they'll wanna cut that off as quick as they can before it becomes easy enough for the two of you to take them on together." Finnick's hand reaches for mine across the table. Kai comes around and hugs me the best he can with Mags at my side. There's a calm silence that washes over the room, an acceptance of what needed to happen. Kai and I may have originally planned to go to the end together, and we would fight to keep one another alive as long as possible, but it wouldn't be enough, and one of us would die before the other. I hugged Mags and Kai tighter, I squeezed Finnick's hand tighter.

Johanna made a noise that sounded like an irritated sigh, but her hand found my other one and she squeezed. "You're all so sickening with this emotional crap."

I smiled. "Love you too, Johanna."

She rolled her eyes but I saw her crack a small smile. "Yeah, whatever."

a-a

Everyone was tense while waiting for their turns to take on one of the biggest challenges we'd face so far: the private sessions. One by one, we would walk into that room alone, spend a couple of minutes showing the gamemakers why we were worth a high score, and pray afterward that they wouldn't hang us out to dry.

Surprisingly, Cato came and sat down next to me when Clove's name was called. Guess they were having girls go first this year. The Careers, Kai, and I were lucky, we got a pretty good slot when it came to the sessions. We were a few of the first tributes and our districts were known for producing victors in the past, so they would pay the most attention to us. But tributes in the outlying and lower districts drew the death slots; they had a harder time keeping the gamemakers interested, and that made it harder to score higher - which is what everyone wanted, because the higher the score, the more likely you are to gain sponsors.

"Do what you did with that trainer the other day and you'll definitely be set to score high." I could tell he knew that I was nervous, and because of that he was trying to encourage me. It didn't help much, but I wasn't going to show that.

"Oh honey," I joked, "I'm not at all worried about _me_ getting a high score, I'm worried about _you._ I don't wanna have to be responsible for reeling in all of our sponsors, you better pull your weight buddy."

He rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, probably to throw some form of a sarcastic comment back at me, but before he could his name was called over the speaker. It was his turn.

"Good luck, _darling_." I said playfully. He lightly tugged on a piece of my hair as he stood up and walked away, causing me to smack his arm and laugh.

After a couple of minutes, another tribute took a seat next to me; a smaller and way more innocent tribute.

"I think you'll do great." She whispered. "The gamemakers already know who you are. They'll be looking out for you."

Everything about the girl made me smile; from her cute little smiles to her knack for making everything seem just a little bit _better_. "Thanks Rue." I hugged her into my side. "You know that everybody loves an underdog. No one would be expected a little girl like you to score so high."

"I'm not gonna score high."

"Oh yes you are." There was no room for argument. "I've seen you climb trees and scavenge like none of these other tributes."

"That won't do me any good against a bigger tribute." She pointed out.

My hand found its way into her hair and began to massage her scalp. "Sometimes you have to play the defensive and know when you need to run instead of fight."

"My mom used to play with my hair like this." Conversation ceased between the two of us after that. There was no need for words, just comfort. And then my name was called, and I had to pull away from the dark skinned child.

"Give em hell, Rue." Her smile was the last thing I saw before I entered that room.

a-a

"How do you two think you did?" Finnick was the first to ask when we got back to the floor.

I shrugged and threw myself onto the couch in front of the television. "I guess we'll find out in just a couple of hours."

"I think both of us did just fine." Kai answered for himself and for me. "I fought against some of the trainers, worked with a couple of spears, and showed them I knew a bunch of survival skills. And _ka manō_ over here beat up on her favorite trainer while showing off a little knife work."

 _That fucking nickname_. "Insulting me by trying to call me baby shark in that language doesn't work, it just translates to the word shark."

"But the fact that you knew I was calling you _baby shark_ actually inadvertently makes it work, so I still win." I had to give it to him, he had a good point.

Mags pulled us out of the living room and into the dining room, beckoning us to eat dinner before the scores were released later in the day. We spent most of the time before that talking about everything but the arena, which was a nice change. A lot of the conversations reverted back to one thing: home. We all missed it. And sadly, only two, maybe three, would be going back to it at the end of all of this.

Effie Trinket came running into the room, trailed by a seemingly annoyed Johanna Mason, in the middle of a deep discussion about whether or not fish were friends and not food. "Turn on the TV, get in the living room, the scores are in!"

No one needed to tell me twice. By the time we sat down and everyone had gotten settled in - which took longer than normal thanks to the bickering of who got to sit in the last spot on the couch instead of the floor by Finnick and I (I lost by the way) - the scores for District 1 had flashed across the screen and Caesar was moving onto Two. Clove had scored a ten, but I wasn't interested in her, to be completely honest, I found myself crossing my fingers for the next person on the screen. A ten was displayed right next to his cocky little floating head, and I sighed in relief.

Three's scores were ok, as good as to be expected, and then our turns came around.

Kai's hand grabbed ahold of mine, as well as Finnick's, and before we knew it, all of us were grasping each other's hands, even Johanna, praying to anyone that would listen that the training had been worth it.

Kai had scored a ten - we all sighed, but at the same time everyone remained silent, not wanting to jinx anything. My face made its way onto the screen.

"A score of…. _ten_ from our very own goddess of beauty!"

And then the cheering commenced. For a moment, things were ok.


	9. Chapter 9

**I. am. On. a. ROLL. Congrats to me on another chapter! I've sort of proof read most of it. But it's 2 in the morning for me and I definitely could've missed a couple of typos and mistakes. So, sorry in advance lol. Kalani is so cute, she just wants to swim with dolphins and go to the beach, and the Capitol is just messing everything up for her. BTW I made an aesthetic pinterest board for her, it's so pretty, I love it. ANYWAYS remember: PLEASE REVIEW. I'm blackmailing you with chapters. More reviews = more chapters/faster updates. They make me smile :) Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think. Should Kalani team up with Cato? Do you think she'd do that to Kai or Rue? What do you you guys think she should do? Either way, she's gotta deal with a lotta death and murder soon, wooooohooooo. Yikes. Thoughts?**

Training had consisted of more hand to hand combat. Kai and I took turns tossing knives and handling spears. I knew he was pissed that he had to hold back how talented he was with the weapons, because so was I. But we needed to, it was the one thing we had over the Careers. Even with my alliance to Cato, which was still undetermined, I needed to be able to surprise him should things turn out...not as planned.

During lunch I stayed behind. While everyone ate I stole a snack from the lunch room and snuck back into the training area. It wasn't for anymore training of course, I just wanted to spend some time alone by the pool.

So, after my snack, I slipped off my shoes and dipped my feet into the water. Closing my eyes, I pretended that I was back home. I thought about how my family was doing. My younger siblings would be at school, learning and playing. My brother was probably with Annie, worrying about me. My mother would be throwing herself into her work. That brought me down another trail of thoughts. I missed work. As much as I hated the Capitol for what they were doing to those animals, I loved the rehabilitation center. We used to lie on reports to keep the animals around longer, allowing them to recuperate as much as possible. It was hard knowing that they would never again be able to return to the ocean, they would never survive not knowing how to hunt for themselves, and most of them were meant to live amongst groups but they didn't have that anymore. The best we could do was to try to keep them away from the Capitol for as long as possible.

I thought about Akoni, my favorite little dolphin, one who had been making little progress. I was afraid that I would never get to see him again.

In the midst of my thinking, I hadn't noticed someone come into the room, not until they sat down next to me.

"Thinking about me?"

That made me laugh. And not fake laugh, I mean actually laugh. "You wish."

"I do actually." I looked over to see him placing his feet in the water next to me. "So, what are you really thinking about then?" I didn't know whether to tell him or not. I didn't want to confide in him. But he was _there_ , and I wanted to talk, it didn't really matter who it was to.

"Not that you would know anything about it, Cato, but I was thinking about this place that I used to work at back home." Just mentioning it brought a genuine smile to my face. "My family owns this animal rehabilitation center, and I used to help out a lot there. Animals that the Capitol would send us, if they got sick or hurt we would help them get better. There's this one dolphin that I'm in charge of, his name is Akoni, and he only likes me."

"Can't imagine why." Cato's arm nudged mine. I liked playful Cato, he wasn't as menacing or scary.

"Him and I are best friends actually." I joke.

"Your best friend is a dolphin. That explains so much." He joked back. "I've only ever seen a dolphin once, when my family visited the Capitol. They had this show they were putting on, and we were allowed to feed them if we wanted. They canceled it though. The dolphin wasn't cooperating I guess."

"That's because they're not meant to live like that. They're not entertainment. They're such intelligent and amazing creatures, and they're being treating like dull animals, being told to do mediocre and dumb tricks to appease children. It's sick. They're so _so_ smart... Did you know that dolphins are self aware?"

His eyebrows knitted together and a confused look passed across his face. "I don't really understand what that means…..elaborate for me."

I turned to him, excited that he wasn't blowing off my attempt at conversation, and excited to talk about something I loved so much. "Ok, think of it like this. When you look into a mirror, you see yourself, and you know it's not just someone who looks like you or another human, it's _you_. Well typically animals will look into a mirror and think that it's just another animal of their own species, _but_ a hand full of them _know_ that it's not. They're able to actually recognize themselves in a mirror and know that that's _them_. And you know they have distinct personalities? Some of them are playful and others are shy. There's this one dolphin I work with, her name is Moana, and everytime she sees me walking by her pool, she makes a little screeching sound and she waves with her left flipper, and when I get up to the edge of the platform she splashes me, _everytime_. They understand complex skills, they're able to learn new tasks, their brains are able to actually absorb information and store it for later use, do you understand the complexity behind that? Moana is able to recognize _me_ and distinguish me from other people, and she's become aware of herself at only a few months of age, something that human babies aren't able to do until they're over a year old. It's incredible."

"You sound like you really know what you're talking about."

"Of course I do."

"And you're passionate about it." For once, Cato isn't being an asshole.

"I am." I smiled, and then it fell a little. "I was. I'll miss it. It used to suck getting up ridiculously early in the morning to go help out, but I wouldn't have changed it for the world. We could all learn something from those animals."

"Learn something from an animal?" Cato laughed at my comment.

"Yeah, we can," I shot back. "Certain animals are known to actually show indications of empathy. They _feel_ things at a level that it seems even humans can't compete with. In my district, their have been accounts of dolphins saving sailors and fishermen from drowning and warding off sharks to keep them from attacking. Their care extends across species, and I know that might not mean much to you, but it's incredible, because most animal species don't care about any others but their own, it's the way of the world. Humans can barely pull themselves together to fix our own problems, I mean here we are throwing a bunch of kids into the murder games."

There is a light yet sarcastic chuckle that escapes Cato's lips. "Wow, tell me how you _really_ feel."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "So what about you Two? You do anything special back in your district? C'mon, impress me."

He shook his head. "There wasn't much we were allowed to do actually. Even in my free time, I trained for the games. My dad though, he's a Peacekeeper, he runs the program that trains other peacekeepers, and sometimes I would help out. It wasn't interesting at all, nothing like what you did."

"I was super attracted to you before this, and now that I know you're super boring, I'm super not." I joked with him. He just laughed at my attempt at humor. "Reel me back in Hadley, c'mon. You got any hobbies? Please tell me you're not a total waste. I can't pretend to like a guy who's not in the least bit interesting."

"So, you're gonna take me up on my offer?"

"Maybe if you make it worth my while and prove to me that hanging out with you in those games won't be a total bore fest, I will consider it further."

His devil-may-care smile slipped out again. I was becoming so used to seeing it when it was just the two of us. I was scared to see how much that would change when we entered the arena. "I like swimming."

"No shit." I gasped.

"No shit." He confirmed. "There are a few lakes in Two, they're not extravagant, but they're something. Plus we have a couple pools in the training facilities, I used to spend a lot of time there. I would do laps hours."

 _No wonder he lasted so long during the water treading exercise._ I voiced my thoughts to him.

He scoffed, "Yeah, you think I'd be better at it considering the fact. _I_ thought I would be better at it. Turns out I was wrong, I guess."

My gut wrenched a little. He really was affected by yesterday's exercise. He'd practiced so much, for so long, just to fail in the end, I couldn't imagine how that must feel. I knew going into the exercise either Kai or I were going to have the best time, there was no doubt in my mind; had I lost however, I would have been just as upset.

"Don't beat yourself up about it." I lowered my voice as the other tributes began to file back into the training area. "Treading water is a lot different from swimming, and chances are even if you used to spend hours in the pools back in your district, it comes nowhere near as close to how long Kai and I have back in our own. We basically _live_ in the water over there. And you did really well, your district isn't even known for that and you lasted almost twice as long as all of the other tributes-"

"Yeah, and half as long as you." His tone seemed more clipped all of a sudden. Playful Cato had exited the building, and his replacement: broody Cato. "I should get back to training. Think about my offer, it still stands...for as long as it takes for you to see reason."

He had begun to stand up when I wrapped my hand around his arm and pulled him back down. Being sweet and sensitive toward him wasn't helping. If him and I were going to be partners in that arena, I needed him to be confident of himself - at least up until the end. It seemed like the only thing he responded to was a harsher tone.

"Stop babying yourself and grow up." I whispered to him. "All I've heard for the last couple of days is a back and forth between _yes I can_ and _no I can't_ and I don't know what that sounds like to you, but it sure as hell isn't the thought process of any victor that has made it out of District Two. I don't believe in these games, I think that they're sadistic and twisted, and anyone that thinks killing kids to make a political statement is a good idea should burn in the deepest depths of the ninth circle of Hades. But I believe in you. As much as I hate to admit it, you have the best odds of winning this thing. And you're my ticket to the end, so suck it up, realize what you're worth, and don't take shit from anyone, not even yourself."

I got up after that, determined to be the one to walk away, because a speech like that deserved a dramatic exit. I may have stumbled a little on the wet floor, but hey...it was still dramatic.

a-a

"I feel like I'm gonna puke."

"That's fine honey, just please don't do it on the dress."

Cinna was busy making last minute changes on my outfit for the interviews. It was simple, and absolutely stunning. We had gone for an greek goddess/siren crossover. The Aphrodite and Ares ploy was still on, so Finnick asked for Cinna to play it up in the costumes as much as possible. He wanted everyone to get an idea of what to expect, he wanted them to want us.

"You look stunning, dollface." _Speak of the devil._ "Cinna is correct though, if you're gonna blow chunks, let us know so I can grab you a garbage can, or else you might ruin your dress and then you'll be walking out on that stage naked. _Wait that could work_."

"Finn, don't make me throw up on you."

"That's disgusting." Cinna mumbled under his breath.

I ask Finnick for some advice, wanting to know the best way to impress the sponsors. He doesn't even hesitate with his answers. "Be flirty, don't be afraid to mess around with Caesar, he's super easy to talk to and he loves when the tributes are funny and charming. Don't outright mention Cato either, I know it's what we're going for - you know, the whole Katani business - but I want to leave the audience _rooting_ for you two. They'll be way more invested, trust me. Let it slip somehow that you find one of the tributes to be interesting or something, but like in a playful manner, so the audience knows you mean it in a romantic kind of way." He takes a deep breath. "But most of all babe, be yourself." That makes me smile. "You're easy to love. So go out there, be a good little Aphrodite, and make them fall in love with you, my beautiful little goddess."

I blushed a little. "You're such a loser." But I hugged him nonetheless. There was no one else I'd want by my side right now. Finnick was there for me, in every way possible, and he believed in me no matter the reasons not to. In my opinion, I was the luckiest tribute in these games, because I had him.

"One more thing." Cinna shouted over the noise of the speakers near us. The interviews had commenced, and Clove was making her way onto the stage. Each tribute only had a couple of minutes on stage, so everyone was hoping to make a good impression...well it didn't have to be good, it just had to be an impression.

Something fell in between my collar bones, making me jump at the intrusion. Looking down, I saw that it was the shark tooth necklace Finnick had given me. I had taken it off so that they could apply some shiny lotion to my upper body, and had forgotten to put it back on. It didn't exactly go with the look; I didn't care.

"Something to remind you of _exactly_ who you are." Cinna kissed my forehead and cupped my cheeks. He'd done an excellent job once again. I was wearing a simple powder blue gown with thin straps that wrapped around my neck. It had a low v-cut and was made of thin material. I wasn't wearing anything underneath, almost all of back was on display, and the slit on the left side extended all the way up to the top of my thigh. Simple, and seductive. My hair was in some nice beach waves with a single flower resting on my left ear, and my face was given another natural look with the makeup that my glam squad had used. And I wasn't wearing shoes, courtesy of both Finnick and Cinna who agreed that I didn't need any, just like during the tribute parade. Instead I wore a _kupe'e_ on each ankle, which were like anklets traditionally worn in my district, I choose flowers for them.

"Heads up! Our boy toy, egghead junior, is on." Johanna had walked over and made herself known through, of course, a sarcastic remark. Turning my attention to the screen, I saw that Cato was indeed shaking hands with Caesar. The applause from the audience melted away and they began with the typical interview questions.

 _So Cato, how are you liking the Capitol so far? A score of ten, how impressive; tell us how did you manage that? Missing home at all? Anything you wanna say to your friends and family back in District Two?_

Halfway through the interview and I thought Cato wasn't gonna mention me at all, not that I cared. Turns out, however, he didn't need to, because Caesar was one step ahead of him. "Cato, there is something specific that I'd like to talk about with you. I think you know where I'm going with this! It has to do with a certain _goddess_ , shall we say, during the tribute parade!" Cato throws Caesar and the audience a dashing smile, one that even makes me blush a little. "You simply _must_ give us _something_ to work with! We're dying to know any details you're willing to give."

Cato lets out a little chuckle and rubs the back of his neck. He's playing everything up, hoping that the audience catches on to the (fake) little lovestruck look in his eyes. " _Aphrodite_ and I had a moment, have had a couple since then, and may just continue to have more in the future. That's all I'm willing to say." _Did he just refer to me as Aphrodite? Fucking hell, this guy is good._

"Cato, my boy!" Caesar stops him. "You can't do that to us! You can't tell us that you've had moments and then just leave it at that!"

"I'm afraid I have to, Caesar. Look, I know that we all know exactly who I'm talking about, so I won't refer to her specifically, but I don't like many people...and yet, for some reason, I happen to like her. She's got something. That's _all_ I'm saying, for real this time."

"Well, unfortunately we are all out of time anyways, which is very upsetting because I was hoping to squeeze more out of you," The audience laughs, "but alas, it must end. We hope to see what you're truly made of in the days to come Cato, thank you so much for being here."

"It's been my pleasure, Caesar." One more faint-worthy smirk from the hulk from Two and then he exits the stage, directly passing me on the way. We make eye contact for the briefest of seconds, and I decide it's my turn to play the part of endearing goddess. My hand moves out to lightly brush his forearm, continuing down to his hand. I wink at him, and he squeezes my hand before smirking and walking off to his mentor. Just like that the moment is over, but the cameras had definitely caught it, and I was already preparing for the onslaught of questions Caesar would throw at me.

While District Three's tributes went on, I decided now would be the perfect time to use the restroom. Finnick gave me a piggyback ride to and from the bathrooms given that I had no shoes, and I didn't feel like walking. We made it back just in time to see the boy from District Three prancing off the stage.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, the moment I have all been waiting for," Caesar said excitedly, "please give a warm welcome to the stage, Miss Kalani Maverick!"

Finnick gives me a sweet kiss on the cheek before I walk off. The audience is loud, many of them are out of their seats and I notice that flowers are strewn across the stage. I get another idea and begin to pick up as many of the flowers that I can on my way to my seat.

Caesar looks very confused and isn't afraid to voice it. "Everything you do does not cease to mystify me. Do you plan on presenting the tributes with flowers again my dear?"

"Oh, no, I actually had something else in mind," I keep my voice soft, "do we have any wire? I know Cinna does actually." I beckon Cinna, wanting him to bring what I needed. Cinna, being the intelligent designer that he is, knew exactly what I seemed to be doing. He made his way onto the stage and held out what I had asked for. "Everyone, this is my amazing designer and good friend, Cinna, he's the genius behind everything that I have worn and will ever wear again." The man gives the crowd a smile and winks at me, kissing my cheek before he leaves the stage.

"Everyone loves you, you know that right?" Caesar seems taken aback by me, which makes me happy. I giggle a little and begin to twist the flowers into the wire. "Seriously, I've had conversations with so many people about the tributes this year, and you know who happens to be at the center of it all? You!"

"Well, I am glad to hear that." I smile.

"Let's talk then while you work on whatever it is your working on," he begins, "you're obviously from District Four, the fishing district. Tell us about it. What was life like for you growing up? We're all curious."

"My life was pretty great growing up." I smiled, thinking about my home. "Family is important back in my district, but not many people realize that family means something different there. It's not just about who you're related to. It's about the people who you care most about. For instance, I've known Finnick for most of my life, and while we may not be related by blood, he's my brother, we're family. _Ohana_. Same goes for Annie Cresta and Mags, victors that I am very close with from back home. I don't even consider my cousins to be anything less than my brothers and sisters. And Kai, he is family as well. It's a huge part of our culture. Family is everything."

Caesar lays a hand over his heart and sighs. "That's truly beautiful. Kalani, I have to be honest, you are such a kind soul. Tell us then, what makes you such a competitor in these games?"

My response was quick. I knew he would ask me something like that. "Because I'm going to fight to come back to my family. No matter the cost."

There are cheers from the audience. Inwardly, I cringe, outwardly, I smile. "Now that's the spirit! That's what I love to hear!" We move onto another topic. He mentions my outfit. "Cinna has done an amazing job, as you said, once again. I spoke to him a little while before the show and he was telling me that he wanted to incorporate a little bit of your culture into your appearance tonight. Would you explain to us how he's done that?"

"Of course!" Cinna had set everything up so perfectly. I would have to thank him later. "I'm wearing a _kupe'e_ on both of my ankles, we wear these during dances in Four. And I'm also wearing a plumeria flower behind my ear."

"Oh, that flower behind your ear is symbolic?" Cinna questions me, genuinely confused. "What exactly does it symbolize then?"

I had finished what I had been working on and stood up to stand above Caesar, placing the flower crown that I had made him atop his head. "Relationship status actually, a way for people to tell if you're taken or single."

He laughed and thanked me while fixing the crown. "Is this traditional to your district as well?"

"Yes, it's called a _haku_."

"Well, I am honored. Thank you so much." Caesar smiled. "But let's divert back to before. How does it symbolize relationship status exactly?"

 _There it was_. "Depending on which ear you place the flower behind, it would let people know."

"That's interesting! So then...which side means taken?"

I did my best to seem smitten and mischievous as I let out a tiny giggle and hid behind my hair.

"Ahhh, I think I know the answer." The clip of Cato and I briefing holding hands from before plays across the screen behind me. "There have been _rumors,_ shall we say, about a certain male tribute and you."

I wish I could say the blushing was fake, I really do. But the mixture of endless flirtiness and with how nervous I was having so much attention drawn to me was making for a bad combination. "Everything you need to know has been said, and I have nothing else to add."

"Surely you're lying!" The odd colored host shouted. "Ok, ok, at least give me this...will we get moments of you two in the games? Because I think all of us can agree, we adore the idea of you two together."

I shrug, laughing again. "I guess you'll have to wait and see, Caesar."

"Ha, ha!" He claps his hands and throws his head back. "My you two are extremely tight lipped about this! Guess we'll have to wait for the games ladies and gentlemen. Now a couple of more things Kalani, I know we're running pretty low on time. Some people have been calling you by the name _Aphrodite_ , as I'm sure you may know. But as it turns out Aphrodite had many lovers in her lifetime, and there has been talk about other men in your life, we know there is a _main_ man in your life, but be truthful with us...is there anyone else?"

I know at this moment the camera is probably panning in on every guy I'm associated with. Cato. Finnick. Kai. Hell, even Cinna. I was crafty with my answer, having rehearsed this one beforehand as well. "It's no secret that Aphrodite had affairs with a multitude of men, however, in the end, it's a fact that Ares was her true love."

"Be still my beating heart." Caesar swooned playfully. "Finally, we get something out of one of the two of you." Cheers and clapping continue to come from the crowd. "I wanted to address one more thing before you leave the stage today. It has to do with nicknames again. I've heard that some of the mentors and tributes have taken to calling you _baby shark_. I have to say, that's a little harsh, don't you think?"

Everyone is laughing at my nickname, but instead of getting angry like some may expect, I just smirk. "Well, I think my competitors should do well to remember something in that arena Caesar."

"Oh," he smiles, encouraging me to continue "and what is that?"

"A baby shark is still a goddamn shark."


	10. Chapter 10

**So close! Heads up, this chapter is going to be pretty short because of the fact that I ended it without realizing how short it was lol. But have no fear, I'll be posting two chapters, so you guys get MORE content than just a single chapter, and trust me, that one will be a long one! Remember to review please and thank you, and enjoy.**

a-a

Finnick, Kai, and I sleep in the same bed that night. Curled up together, I'm pressed between their two bodies, being temporarily shielded from the inevitable turn of fate that my life has taken.

 _How did we end up here?_ I ask myself.

It's a generic question, one that no one can really answer. It meant so many things at that point. How did we end up here in the Capitol, being sent to mass slaughter, trained to kill other children in the span of a couple of days. I belonged back home. I wanted so badly to just go home.

I'm awake before the other two boys beside me. On the wall to the right of us is an adaptive screen that can change to look like the room was in a different environment. We fell asleep with it displaying the ocean. It felt wrong, there was no smell of saltwater in the air, no sound of seagulls screeching or the crashing of waves against the sand, but it was better than nothing. I sat up and just stared at it for a while. Finnick was the next to wake up. He sat behind me, wrapping his arms around my stomach and pressing his chin against my shoulder. We watched the faux ocean together. Kai was awake only minutes later. He sat up and laid his head against my other shoulder. It was one of the last moments we would all spend together. It was peaceful, and at the same time, I knew it would become one of my least favorite memories.

No one spoke much at breakfast. We all knew what was coming, and it seemed that no one knew how to approach the subject. Mags kissed each of our cheeks and smiled sadly. I could tell she wanted to cry, the truth was written all over her face, but she wanted to be strong for us. I would always be grateful for that, because if she had begun crying, I don't think I ever would've stopped.

Not even Johanna, who had once again joined us for the morning, hadn't spoken much. Out of character, she gave Kai and I each a hug and a genuine smile. "Good luck out there you two. I'm rooting for you."

Finn and Mags walked us to the helicarrier that would take us to a location where we would be passed on to our costume designers who would dress us appropriately for the games and send almost all of us to our deaths right after.

I said what I needed to to Mags before moving on to Finnick. I knew it was going to be hard, but nothing prepared me for his bloodshot eyes and distraught face, tears threatening to make an appearance. Not being able to help it, I threw myself into his arms, clinging to him as if it were, _because it could very well be_ , the last time I would ever see or feel him again. Over the last couple of days, Finnick Odair had become the most important person in my life. I prayed to every deity I could think of that if I died in that arena, Finnick would be ok, that he wouldn't find some way to blame himself, that his life would get better, that he would marry Annie, have a couple of beautiful children, and live as long as possible. Because he deserved it.

"You're _coming back to me_." His voice cracked. _Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry_.

"I'm coming back to you." I could only give him that empty promise, hoping it in some way would numb our pain or calm our nerves.

Forehead against mine, as he always did, he whispered, "Ma ke aloha, ua loa'a ikaika." _Through love we find strength._

I repeat his words and smile, because if this is the last moment we spend together, I hope he remembers my smile, like I will remember his in the games. Without hesitation, one of my hands wraps around the end of Finnick's necklace that I'm wearing. I stare at him as he is escorted away by peacekeepers with Mags. I stare at him until he is forced through the doors that would separate us. I stare at him until he is gone.

A hand grips tightly onto mine, and like a beacon of hope, Kai stands next to me, ready to be the emotional support I seem to be needing in that moment. "Mai uē." _Don't cry_. He's being the smart one for the two of us. I don't want the other tributes to see me like this. Or the sponsors. Or Cato. Moving forward, I needed to be strong, even if it was just a facade.

The two of us walked together toward the helicarrier. We were the last ones to board. Everyone was already in their seats. Some of the tributes looked nervous, others looked downright terrified, and then some looked _excited_. I met a multitude of different eyes as soon as I stepped onto the platform.

The first were Rue's. There was only one emotion in hers: fear. But her body language spoke a completely different language, one that masked that fear all together. She looks calm. At first, I'm glad that she is able to keep her composure. But a worse thought comes to mind after: _what if she's calm because she's already accepted her fate in the arena?_ My hand reaches out for hers, squeezing it gently as I pass, before letting go slowly. It was a simple gesture that I hope she would understand. _I'll protect you with my life if it comes down to it._

Next are the eyes of Thresh. His are calm, but they're also hard. Unreadable. But I know what he's thinking. I'm safe from him, there was some unspoken agreement it seemed. We would protect Rue if we needed to, and should we come across one another in the games, we would pretend it didn't happen, not unless it were at the final few.

And then there are Cato's. He's worse than Thresh. There's no emotion in his eyes at all. For a split second, I'm sincerely scared of him. But then there's a small tilt in his demeanor. His eyes soften after a moment. He sends me a small nod. _Our deal is still on_. Cato, throughout the entire pool of tributes, has surprisingly been the one I've gotten to know the best. I wanted so badly for him to live, but I knew it would come at the expense of dozens of other kids' deaths. I felt terrible for feeling the way I did, I hated that I cared about whether he made it out of the games at all. But no amount of hate could drive out all the other emotions I felt for him. _Compassion, pity, empathy._ Him and I, we weren't so different after all. Beyond our beliefs about the games, there was one thing we both wanted: to make it to the end, and to go home. Our only differences lied in how we chose to get there.

a-a

Kai and I were separated. Another person forcibly pulled away from me. I was sent into a room on my own, where I was supposed to meet the last person I would see before going into the games.

" _Cinna._ " I can barely speak. My voice comes out in a whisper.

His arms surround me before the door can even close. I can finally cry. He doesn't judge me.

"You are the fiercest competitor there is." He tells me. "And if there is _anyone_ I'm betting on to win these games, it's _you_. So no goodbyes, no more tears, and no sad smiles. I _will_ see you on the other side."

His confidence in me gives me the strength I need to stop my crying. He's right, or at least, he has to be right. He has to be.

Cinna helps me into my outfit that I've been given. It's a wetsuit.

"Designed for water, as you would obviously know." He helps me to decipher what that could mean in terms of terrain. "This is good, there's going to be water, and from the looks of this outfit, lots of it. That is _your_ home field, you get the advantage. The suit isn't particularly designed for too cold of a climate, but it will provide you with some nice insulation and it's full body coverage, so I'm thinking they're putting you guys somewhere more tropical. Nights might be a little chilly, but it shouldn't be too bad, they won't want to freeze you guys out."

"Divers in four wear these for safety and buoyancy more than anything. It helps with keeping them higher in the water."

"Yes, and it's also made with extra layers of super composite skin. It'll repel water, which means-"

"I'll be able to swim faster in the water."

Cinna smiles as he begins to weave my hair into a single tight french braid. "You really are too smart for your own good."

The clock on the wall next to us begins to count down. I only have two minutes left before leaving for good.

If Cinna doesn't want to say any goodbyes, that's fine by me. But I needed some kind of closure, some sort of way to know that if these were the last moments Cinna and I would spend together, that he would understand that I was thankful for _everything_ he had done for me thus far, that I cared about him more than I thought I could come to care about anyone from the Capitol, that he had somehow made a significant impact on my life no matter the small amount of time we'd known each other.

"Where I'm from….the term _aloha_ means so many different things. It means peace, it means compassion, but overall it's about love. We don't use it too often, because it weakens the strength of the word. So when we do say it and who we say it to...that means something to us, it's special." I kiss his cheek. The clock is counting down from one minute now. "You've been so good to me Cinna. I hope that one day, this world gives you back the energy you have put out into it."

He holds my hand as I step up into the large cylindrical glass container that would propel me upward into the arena. The doors begin to slowly close as the timer runs out. " _Aloha, Cinna."_

The look on my designer's face is one I recognize as love, the same as I had seen on Finnick's, and Akela's, my mom's, the twin's, and Kai's time and time again. I can't hear him, but I can read his lips easily.

" _Aloha, Kalani."_


	11. Chapter 11

**Here we go you guys,** _ **the beginning of the end.**_ **We've reached the games. Omg, could you imagine if Kalani just DIED the first day, lol that would be terrible. Nah, but real talk that girl has a loooooong way to go. As promised, another chapter. Read, review, enjoy!**

a-a

The panel above my head opened. The noises that came from outside immediately calmed every nerve in my body. _Waves. Those are waves._

The sound grows closer, and I grow more confident. The panel beneath me continues to rise until I'm blinded by the sun. I know what surrounds me without needing to open my eyes. Water, and a ton of it.

My eyes eventually adjust to the brightness. I immediately look around to get a good look at where all of the other tributes stand. We're all set upon panels atop rocks, about 50 yards out from the Cornucopia, which was in the middle of a small island. The only thing between us and it was open ocean. There was beach about another 20 yards behind, circling all of us, and further off was straight jungle. That would be the real arena. _But how did they expect us to move supplies from the Cornucopia to the beaches?_ They didn't. I guess that didn't seem like the worst thing in the world. Those who were daring enough, the Careers, would head toward the Cornucopia, and those who knew they didn't stand a chance would head to the beaches. I wasn't a Career, but I knew where I was headed. Kai and I were faster than any of the other tributes in the water, we could be in and out of there before any of them even reach the island.

Something, however, wasn't adding up. There was no way they would skip out on the bloodbath this year. It was a gruesome and yet cherished part of the games. The Capitol loved it. It marked the first few deaths, where the weak ones were weeded out. They needed it to be bloody, and if the tributes weren't necessarily going to be the ones to be committing the mass murder then that could only mean one thing.

" _Kai!"_ My voice carries over the water battering against the land and rocks. I spot him on the platform next to me, about 20 feet away. "He mea hoʻopunipuni." _It's a trick._ "E nānā i ka wa." _Check the water_.

I look for Cato next, wanting to tell him to stay out of the water. My eyes scan over the tributes I can see from this side of the Cornucopia. He's pretty far away from me, about 3 platforms away. An internal debate begins to take place within me, I don't know whether or not I should call out to him or not, fearing the other tributes would become suspicious of the two of us working together. Then again, our little show during the interviews had probably already aroused enough suspicion, so who the hell really cared?

" _Cato!"_ I shout louder than I had for Kai, being that he was much further. He's so focused on something to the left of him that he doesn't hear me calling for him. His name almost slips from my lips again before they are lost when my eyes come across what he had been staring at. A fin, a _very_ large fin, in the water. It swam a couple of yards in front of me, continuing on in a path around the Cornucopia. "Cato!" I shout for him again, as soon as the shark is out of sight. "Don't go into the water!"

" _Oh, really? Are you sure?"_ His sarcastic tone booms loudly across the way. "I was _totally_ gonna dive head first into the shark infested waters! Thank you so much for your _sound advice Kalani!"_

After reminding myself that I shouldn't let him get eaten by a shark because he was somewhat of my friend, I spoke again, but not to him. "Kai, we gotta think of something before that clock reaches zero seconds and that shark starts looking for food in all the wrong places. We gotta get to the Cornucopia!"

"Got any ideas?" He shouts.

There's not exactly enough time to think up a good plan. "What's your best time back in Four?" I ask.

"One minute, twenty seconds."

"Shit." I curse under my breath.

"Time?" Cato questions loudly from farther away.

"How fast you can swim 100 meters." The water is no longer too noisy, and we can hear each other pretty well as long as we speak loud enough. Kai looks back at me. "Why? What's your time?"

"Fifty eight seconds. If I freestyle it."

"Damn girl." As if we're not about to be eaten by a shark inspired mutt created by the Capitol, Kai winks at me. It is a good time. But for once, I'm not happy to be the faster swimmer. "Why do you ask? Plan on racing a shark?"

I sigh. "Bitch, I might be."

His face drops. His mouth opens but Cato's voice comes out instead. "Are you fucking crazy, Lani?"

I don't know whether my stomach is doing flips because of the nickname Cato had called me by or the fact that I was most likely going to be shark bait in a couple of seconds.

" _Bitch,"_ I repeat, " _I might be_."

"The second you dive into that water, that thing is coming at you."

"Yeah, no shit Kai!" There's a slight shake to my voice. "We have no other choice. Pass it on, no one gets into the water unless they wanna start a feeding frenzy."

Kai practically screams at me, "That's a terrible fucking idea!"

I shoot him a look.

"We need a way to distract it." Kai elaborates, "Something that'll draw it's attention away from you and toward us. What if we all take turns jumping in and out of the water and making noise so that it swims toward us and away from you?"

"Why would I sacrifice my life to save hers?" Another voice makes an appearance. It's Clove, Cato's district partner.

"Because these games don't happen unless Kalani can get to the Cornucopia and find something to kill that thing with." Kai explains it in a civil manner, but I can tell he's annoyed at her question.

"How do I know she's not just gonna go all Finnick Odair on everyone and kill all of us?" Clove, as much as I hate to say it, makes a good point. "She'll be the only one in the Cornucopia and the only one with a weapon. She becomes the most dangerous person in the games not even two minutes into them."

"She won't do that." Cato speaks up, surprising Clove, who asks how he can be so sure. "Because I trust her...And she wouldn't leave Kai defenseless, we're closer to him than she is. If she tries anything, anything at all, you and I can get to him faster."

"Using me as leverage now loverboy?" I see Kai rolling his eyes. "How romantic."

"I'm just being practical." Cato is right. I won't leave Kai defenseless, it didn't matter how easy it would become for me to win the games. I couldn't have Kai's death on my conscience. A part of me wanted to believe that Cato was only saying all of those things to Clove in order to sway her toward helping us, but I wasn't so sure.

All of a sudden the timer that is counting down to the beginning of the games runs out. There's a loud buzzing and then complete chaos. I hear splashes of water, meaning that some of the tributes have jumped into the water against better judgment. Kai and I begin to yell, scream at all of the tributes to stay out of the water. I can see the fin in the water again, moving quickly passed my platform, to the right of me. The girl from District 9 is in the water, swimming as fast as she probably can toward the beaches. She's not even headed toward the Cornucopia. Everything happens slowly, and then all at once. The fin that once breached the water disappears. There's a few seconds of silence, minus the slapping of skin against water. And then there's an ear piercing shrill scream that rips through the air. The girl from Nine disappears under the sea, never to surface. The water where she had once been turns red. More screams rake through the air, and then, all of a sudden, there's silence, and I don't hear another scream for a couple of seconds. My heart begins to slam harder and harder against my chest.

Sharks weren't harmful creatures. Sure, they were predatory, but they didn't intentionally seek out humans to eat. They attacked when they felt threatened or when they mistakened humans for food, but they typically let go right after the initial bite. But this shark wasn't an actual shark. It was a mutation created by the Capitol, made for one purpose, which seemed to be to kill everything that entered that water. The screams stopped. We all waited in silence, to see if anyone else was stupid enough to jump in. No one is, not yet at least. Five cannons go off. Five tributes dead.

"Cato," my voice isn't loud, but he can hear me, "I need you and Kai to make sure that that thing doesn't get close to me."

"And how do we do that?" He asks.

Kai speaks up. "Sharks interpret splashing around as signs of prey that might be in distress. They'll go for whatever food is the easiest to get ahold of, they won't spend as much time on something that might make them exert more energy if there's something else around that's not as hard for them to catch. That and they're attracted to the scent of blood obviously, but I don't think that's the smartest idea right now."

My district partner continues to talk, telling Cato everything he may need to know about what they should be doing to stay as safe as possible while also ensuring I don't die. He also takes the initiative to start a game of telephone around the circle of tributes, explaining to them that they really had no other choice and that if they wanted to get out of from the water without being eaten by a giant shark, then they needed to make sure I got to the Cornucopia in one piece. As he does this, I keep my eye on the fin that has surfaced once again.

The shark is about halfway between me and the Cornucopia. Lucky for me, the circle of tributes if large enough so that it takes the shark a while to swim all of the way around. I time it to a whole minute to be exact. But that doesn't matter because I'll have to get into the water while the shark is on the opposite side of the Cornucopia, meaning that I actually only have about half a minute to get out of the water. Honestly, I had an okay chance. The distance from my safe little rock in the middle of the water and the Cornucopia was about the size of the swimming pool in the place where my parents worked, and it only took me a little less than a minute to swim across that. There was no telling, however, what the shark would do. And realistically, I didn't know whether the mutation was exactly like a regular shark in all of its aspects. It was obviously more aggressive, but then again the tributes that had been attacked where making a ton of noise in the water, and now that the shark had fed - _I shivered thinking about that_ \- it might not be as inclined to bother me. If I stayed calm enough, the shark mutation might do so as well.

"Here we go, boys." I warn Cato and Kai. I wait for the shark to pass me again, and then I begin to count in my head. All of the way to thirty. And then I slip into the water, hopefully as quietly as possible. I slip under the water, not wanting to splash at the surface, because I know that'll be louder than if I stay under. As much as I would like to swim as fast as possible, I'm more afraid of freaking out the shark. My eyes stay open underneath the water. I'm used to the sting of the salt water, and although I usually try to avoid doing so, I know that I have to keep a lookout for the shark. The worst thing I could do at this point was not be aware of where it was. After about twenty seconds, I emerge at the surface to check on my surroundings. I make as little noise as possible.

"It's coming back around Kalani, hurry up!" Cato's voice reaches my ears. I look toward him, and move my eyes towards the area his are staring at. I freeze up, but not unintentionally. The shark almost looks….calmed down. Like it doesn't care about me being there.

"Don't jump in. Don't try to catch it's attention at all."

It may have been dumb not to hurry myself to the edge of the Cornucopia, but in that moment, it would have been dumber to move at all. From where I was floating, I could see the type of shark that the Capitol had chosen to model their mutation after. The infamous Great White, a reputable predator, and a majestic creature. I slip under the water again, lowering myself the the sand below. The water wasn't too deep, only about ten or so feet, maybe less. I never took my eyes off of the shark. It's pectoral fins, the ones of the lower part of its body, weren't pointing downward at all, and it was swimming gracefully through the water, not at all exaggerating its movements. The shark was no longer being aggressive; in fact, it barely even paid me any attention. _Reminds me a little of Cato; scary and intimidating, able to take down whatever in its path, but unbothered by anything that it didn't deem an immediate threat._ The thought made me laugh.

It was the first time I had ever seen a Great White. I remember my dad telling me stories of them when I was younger. He was one of the few people in District Four to ever encounter one. Everything he had said about them was true.

The shark continued to move away from me. I tested out whether I would draw its attention by moving, but the small strokes I was using didn't seem to bother it. I only surfaced again when I reached the edge of the Cornucopia.

 _I actually made it._

The first thing I did was look for a weapon. Easily enough, a harpoon gun laid against the edge of a trunk where other weapons must have been stored. With a heavy heart, I picked it up, knowing what I had to do next. I grew up around various sea creatures; my parents were the heads of a rehabilitation center; I prided myself on the respect I showed every animal I came across in the ocean.

 _It's a Capitol mutt. It's not even a real shark. You have to kill it._ I told myself. That made it no easier.

For a couple of minutes I just watched it swim. Every single tribute probably thought that I was looking for the best way to kill it, but inside I was struggling with the concept of doing so.

 _How are you supposed to win these games if you can't even kill an animal?_ I asked myself. _How are you going to be able to kill another human being?_

My eyes close, I breathe in and out, and begin to recite a poem under my breath, one that my father used to quote religiously when he was alive. It was my mother's favorite.

" _And when towards the sea you leap,_

 _He looks as if he were asleep."_

I open my eyes. My hands shake, so does my voice. I cut the tip of my finger, enough so that it bleeds but doesn't do any permanent damage, and I let my blood wash out into the water. Like any shark would, the one in the water swims right toward the smell of my blood. I ready my harpoon.

" _But when you once get in his range,_

 _His whole demeanor seems to change."_

Just as the shark approaches close enough, I release the trigger on the harpoon, and it goes flying, right below the shark's left eyes. It thrashes in the water, and begins to turn its body. I reload the harpoon.

" _He throws his body right about,_

 _And his true character comes out."_

I release the harpoon again, into the side of the animal, right in its gills.

" _It's no use crying or appealing,_

 _He seems to lose all decent feeling."_

Despite what the poem says, a few tears run down my cheeks. It won't look like I'm crying on screen, I'm soaked from the swim over here after all. But nonetheless, I'm crying. It doesn't stop me from loading the harpoon gun again and aiming another shot into the shark's left eye. It thrashes again, but I can tell it's wasting energy now. The harpoon had imbedded far into its head, probably deep enough to reach its brain.

" _After this warning you will wish_

 _To keep clear of this treacherous fish."_

I don't want to prolong its pain, even if it was a mutt. So with the shark close enough, I shoot another harpoon into its eye again.

" _His back is black, his stomach is white,_

 _He has a very dangerous bite."_

Sharks need to constantly swim in order to survive; and if they don't swim, they sink.

It was no different for mutts I guess.

The sounds of various splashing could be heard from around me. I didn't bother moving. The Careers would be at the Cornucopia soon, and the games had begun. Everyone else would probably make for the beaches.

"Kalani!" Kai's voice breaks my concentration. He's _walking_ through the water.

"The water level changed." I point out the obvious. He picks me up off the ground and we watch together as the shark's body protrudes out of the water, which is only about a foot deep now.

"You killed it." Cato seems astonished when I look at him. " _Holy shit_. You killed _that_ thing."

I shrugged, playing it off as if it were nothing. Inside, I was still upset over the whole situation. The rest of the Careers watched as I the harpoon gun over my body, setting the strap across my chest, and then grabbing a single knife to holster against my thigh, and a spear to hold onto. The Career group and Kai slowly gathered their choice of weapons as well, and then continued to just stare at me.

"Relax," I mumbled. "It was just a shark."

But it wasn't _just_ a shark, to me or to them, for two very different reasons. One, I grew up believing that every life, even those of animals, were important, and killing that shark had felt wrong in every way possible - _but it was just a mutt._ Two, I had, in the span of less than five minutes, swam with, hunted, and killed, a Great White Shark mutation, probably the most dangerous thing inside this arena - _besides the other tributes_ \- and I hadn't even broken a sweat. Without so much as trying, I had just become the strongest tribute in these games. And that could either severely help or hinder me; because either everyone was gonna want to form an alliance with me, or kill me off immediately.

"That was intense." Marvel, the District One male tribute, comments. "The games didn't really start with a bloodbath this year though, not like all the others. What do you think that means?"

"I think," Kai sighs, "that means these games might introduce a shit ton of things that are a lot more _dangerous_ than other _kids_."

Glimmer, someone I'd barely heard speak the entire time I'd known her or been around her, spoke for the first time. "Like what? Like that _thing_?"

Kai doesn't answer back at first, but when he does, his voice seems to have gone down a couple octaves. "Yeah," he looks off at the beach and jungle that surrounds us on the other side of the water, "the thing about it all is...mutts are a lot harder to kill, and a lot more fun to watch. Maybe they like the idea of serving up more challenges for the Careers this year. You wanna get to the other tributes...you're gonna have to go through a whole hell of a lot of bad."

A hand grasps my shoulder. It's too big and not tan enough to be Kai's. Cato cocks an eyebrow, smirking darkly at the rest of the group in front of us. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the 74th annual _Hunger Games_."


	12. Chapter 12

**I...have no excuses? I'm sorry, school is crazy, yada yada yada. Here's the next chapter, I started working on the next one already. This one is kind of slow but some nice Catani moments. Also, I got a comment saying not to get too depressing with the writing, but I wanted to just comment back on that and make sure you all understand, while Kalani is sweet and fun at times, you have to realize the girl is going into the hunger games where she'll witness a lot of death and may even have to kill herself. The series itself isn't a light one, and I needed to make sure that I give you fair warning, a trigger warning if you will, things later down the line will get dark. Kalani is a good soul, a decent human being, who is being thrown into a corrupted governments murderous games and plotlines. There will definitely be some happier times, after all she's got a lot of people back home who love her and overall this is a romance as well, but there will also be some dark times. So, you have been warned. Nonetheless, feel free to review your opinions on that, or anything else. I love constructive criticism, in fact, everyone has been super nice. I'm also extremely happy you love the culture I used for District Four and I'm really glad no one has been a racist asshole so far :) Kalani is my precious angel and I love her with all my heart. I'm glad you guys like her as well, it makes my heart all smiley!**

 **Warning: I was lazy and did not proof read… :) love you guys lol please don't kill me.**

For the next couple of hours, the Careers, Kai, and I spent our time packing up what we needed to ensure we didn't run out of food or water on our journey to find other tributes. Marvel and Glimmer offered to stay behind in order to keep watch over the supplies while we were gone. For a while, the rest of us walked in silence, only ever speaking when we absolutely needed to. It was kind of boring, and I guess I wasn't the only one who thought so.

"How did you get past it without getting attacked?" Clove had surprisingly taken a liking to me. She'd pretty much stuck by my side the entirety of our hike. I suspect she thought my killing the shark was super badass. _It was_. And if I knew anything about Clove, the more dangerous you seemed, the more inclined she was to like you.

"Do you really wanna know? I mean, it's interesting to me, but some people don't really care when I get all scientific about it, no matter how much I try to dumb it down." I warn her.

"That's not entirely true Lans," Cato butts in, "I think it's kinda cute when you ramble on about your little ocean animals."

" _Little?"_ __Clove chuckles. "I'm sorry did you see that thing? It was massive. I'm not even as impressed with you killing it as I am with you somehow getting out of the water after swimming with it. So, come on Four, spill. How'd you get it to leave you alone?"

I smile. That's actually a pretty nice compliment coming from Clove. "Ok," I spent the next few minutes teaching Clove the basics of swimming with sharks. She, surprising me once again, was hanging on to every word that came out of my mouth.

"Sharks are actually said to view humans as almost equals in terms of predatory status in the water. So," I continued, "if you keep steady movements the shark won't necessarily think of you as another fish in distress and won't waste it's time on you."

"That's why you went under the water then," I could practically see Clove's brain putting it all together in her head, "because the movements wouldn't be as bad as splashing the surface?"

"Exactly." I nudged her. She seemed proud of herself for figuring that part out. "It probably thought I was just another predator in the water. Also, it was a white shark so I needed to keep close to the bottom of the ocean."

Her eyebrows knitted in. "Why?"

Kai, feeling a little left out, took this as an opportunity to pitch into the conversation. "White's breach the water when they hunt."

Clove didn't look any less confused. "Meaning?"

"They attack from below for the most part. The closer I stay to the ocean floor, the harder it is for them to surprise attack me. And that's what they're counting on when they hunt, the surprise factor I mean." I explained.

"That's so cool that you know all that stuff." Clove smirked. "Guess it'll really come in handy in these games, huh?"

I shrugged. She wasn't wrong. The gamemakers didn't focus a lot on the bloodbath, at least not like they usually do. That didn't necessarily mean that that wouldn't change, for all I knew the gamemakers could've been leading us all into a surprise bloodbath just about now. Give us the indication that we're all pretty safe, just to fake us out. It would be pretty genius in a disgustingly homicidal kind of way, but I had a feeling that they were changing things up this year.

More walking and a couple of hours later, Cato, who had decreed himself as head of the pack without actually saying he was, spoke up again. "Alright, we're getting nowhere, we need to split up. Kalani, you're with me." I rolled my eyes and thought _shocker, because who else would he pair me with? My district partner? Absurd._

"Kai, you cool with that?" I asked.

"ʻO kāu koho." _It's your choice._

"E nānā i kou kua." _Watch your back._

Splitting up from Kai this early on in the game wasn't my plan at all, but in this instance there was really no choice. I knew that Cato was splitting us up because he didn't want us together, probably afraid we would plan something like how to kill all of the other careers while they slept or something. Chances are he wouldn't let us keep watch together either. I didn't entirely blame him, I wouldn't want him and Clove alone together either.

"Are you sure splitting up is a good idea?" I asked Cato as we walked away from our district partners.

"We need to find the others, it'll be nightfall soon," he began to explain.

"Don't the careers usually hunt the first night anyways though?"

"No, not always."

"Really?" I laughed at his ignorance. "Name one of the games where they don't."

He struggled to think of an example.

"Exactly. You guys are entirely too predictable. You win the games a lot, sure, but it's not in any kind of innovative ways, nothing inspiring, just brute force. The interesting ones are the underdogs, those of us who aren't expected to win, who find ways to outwit the rest of the tributes. Everyone though Johanna Mason was a weak little girl until she got a hold of an axe and waited it out until the last few tributes, she was smart and planned her attacks our accordingly. Finnick was 14 when he won the games, sure to lose, until he used his knowledge of snares and fishing traps to his benefit and tied a bunch of tributes into nets, that made it almost too easy for him. Annie Cresta swam through rushing water coming from a broken dam, and I don't care what people say, to withstand the current that water was moving at takes a lot out of a person, she's a strong swimmer, maybe even better than Kai and me. Beetee Latier electrocuted the entire career pack at once because he was smart enough to use what little he had in the games to create that kind of weapon. Haymitch Abernathy used the force field at the edge of the arena to his advantage by purposefully throwing his axe over a cliff, knowing it would come right back up to hit the last standing tribute. _Those_ are the people that stand out. The rest of you, the career pack, all you do is smash things with your big fists and go all stab crazy. You're brutal, and it's boring. And _way_ overplayed at this point."

Cato chuckled, but not in a way that made me think he actually found what I said to be funny. "You're good, Four, you really are. It's why I wanted an alliance with you so bad."

"And why is that?"

He lightly grabbed my elbow, turning me around to come face to face - or chest - with him. He spoke low enough that I'm not sure the cameras would b able to pick up his voice. "You've got the entire Capitol eating out of the palm of your hand. You play the game physically and socially, you're good. Almost as good as Finnick." He stepped back, continuing to walk in the direction we were headed in before. "Speaking of Finnick, he's the only person you personalized in your little spiel back there."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you called everyone by their first and last names, expect for him. You're close with him, it's why you skip the formalities." The big blonde wasn't as dumb as everyone probably thought he was. That was the thing that kept surprising me about Cato, he was extremely perceptive.

"You're right." _No point in hiding it._ "I grew up with him. He's not just my mentor, he's like my best friend. And he's been there for me through all of this, you know? He reminds me so much of my big brother back home."

"You have siblings?"

"You don't?"

"Nope, it's just me. My mom was a victor, now she's a _teacher_ , if you catch my drift," ah yes, the districts weren't technically allowed to train for the games, but everyone knew the richer districts got away with breaking that rule, "and my dad is a Peacekeeper, head Peacekeeper actually."

"No, it's not."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see his eyes narrow in on me. "Sorry?"

"You have no obligation to live up to who your parents are, you're your own person," I slowed my pace to look at him, "who you choose to be, what part you play in this life, that's up to you, Cato."

He changed the subject after a few seconds of silence. "What about you then? What part do you think you have to play in this life?"

I smiled sadly. "You saw my reaping right?"

He shook his head.

"That girl gets to live another year with her father, possibly even the rest of her life. A twelve year old girl isn't going to be brutally murdered for the sake of entertainment. I saved one life. That's enough for me. If I was put here for the sole purpose of saving a single person, then I would say that's a good purpose. I'd be proud to die knowing I may also be the reason someone else got to live."

"A sacrifice then? And you're just...ok with that?"

"I don't really have a choice anymore now do I?" I smiled, regardless of how helpless his question made me feel.

"You are one strange tribute, you know that?" Cato threw his arm around my shoulder, surprising me a little.

"Kept you interested, didn't it?"

"You're not wrong...baby shark."

I frowned and shoved him enough to unravel myself from his arm, muttering to myself as I walked faster while he continued to laugh, "asshole."


End file.
